Hindu woman brutally murdered in Bangladesh during Rath Yatra festival amid rising persecution of Hindu minorities

Case ID : 30a97b4 | Location : Jhalokati District, Bangladesh | Date of Incident : Thu, 16 July, 2026

Case ID : 30a97b4

Jhalokati District, Bangladesh

16 July, 2026

Hindu woman brutally murdered in Bangladesh during Rath Yatra festival amid rising persecution of Hindu minorities

Attack resulting in death

Attacked for Hindu identity

Case Summary

A Hindu woman was brutally murdered at her residence in Jhalakathi town, located in Jhalokathi district of Barishal Division, Bangladesh, by a few unidentified assailants. The murder occurred while her family had gone to participate in the Rath Yatra festival, a sacred Hindu festival dedicated to Lord Jagannath. The deceased was identified as Molina Roy (55), the wife of Ratan Roy. According to the police, the murdered woman's body was recovered on the night of Friday, 17 July 2026, from the ground floor of her four-storey house in the T&T area of Jhalakathi town. The body had been wrapped in a sack and concealed inside a room. The recovery was confirmed by Jhalakathi Additional Superintendent of Police (Sadar Circle) SM Bayazid Ibne Akbar. According to the police, citing family members, Molina Roy had been alone at home after her family left in the afternoon to participate in the Rath Yatra festival in the Bhimruli area of Kirtipasha Union. When the family returned in the evening, they found the main door open and the furniture inside the house scattered. During a search of the house, they discovered the murdered woman's body wrapped in a sack inside a room and immediately informed the police. Officials from Jhalakathi Sadar Police Station reached the scene, recovered the body of the murdered woman and sent it to Jhalakathi Sadar Hospital for a post-mortem examination. The police also collected forensic evidence from the house and remained at the scene until around 10 pm as part of the investigation into the murder. According to the police and the victim's family, they suspected that the perpetrators entered the house with the intention of committing robbery. They believed Molina Roy may have confronted or resisted the intruders, following which she was murdered. However, the exact motive and circumstances surrounding the murder remain under investigation. Commenting on the incident, Jhalakathi Additional Superintendent of Police (Sadar Circle) SM Bayazid Ibne Akbar stated that the case was being investigated seriously, legal proceedings had been initiated, and efforts were underway to uncover the circumstances and identify those responsible for the murder. This escalation of violence against Hindus in Bangladesh has unfolded in three distinct phases: first, following the ouster of Sheikh Hasina’s government in August 2024; second, after the death of Sharif Osman Bin Hadi in December 2025; and third, in the immediate aftermath of the 13th National Parliamentary Election 2026. Following the ouster of Sheikh Hasina, multiple reports documented attacks on Hindu homes, temples, and religious institutions, alongside intimidation campaigns, arson, and mob assaults targeting minority neighbourhoods. The Hinduphobia tracker has recorded 336 such incidents against the Hindu minority, underscoring the scale and persistence of anti-Hindu violence during this period. A further escalation occurred following the death of Sharif Osman Bin Hadi, a Muslim political activist and student leader known for his anti-Hindu and anti-India rhetoric. Hadi had been involved in political unrest after the fall of the Hasina government and was killed in Dhaka on 18 December 2025 during clashes. In the aftermath of his death, Hindu communities were blamed and subsequently targeted in retaliatory violence. Hindu homes were selectively set ablaze in multiple localities, forcing families to flee and leaving many displaced. The attacks appeared patterned rather than sporadic, with Muslim mobs focusing on Hindu neighbourhoods, properties, and religious symbols. Among the victims was Dipu Chandra Das, who was lynched to death and his body was set ablaze by a Muslim mob over false blasphemy allegations. The Hinduphobia tracker documented 51 incidents of anti-Hindu violence in the period following Hadi’s death alone. Such incidents underscore the vulnerability of the Hindu minority amid rising communal hostility and the weaponisation of religious accusations. Reports further indicated that posters and written materials calling for the extermination of Hindus were displayed in public spaces, signalling an alarming normalisation of genocidal rhetoric. When combined with acts of arson, vandalism, assault, and targeted intimidation, these developments suggest a coordinated environment of hostility aimed at terrorising the Hindu community and reinforcing majoritarian dominance. The third phase of violence was unleashed after the 13th National Parliamentary Election 2026. Within days of the announcement of results, Hindu families in districts such as Noakhali, Rangpur, Nilphamari, Sylhet, Thakurgaon, and Dinajpur reported coordinated attacks involving arson, looting, assault, and vandalism of temples and homes. In several instances, Hindu homes were selectively targeted, looted, and families were threatened with displacement.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

In this case, the primary category selected is: Attack resulting in death. Within this, the subcategory selected is: Attacked for Hindu identity. In several cases, Hindus are attacked merely for their Hindu identity without any perceived provocation. A classic example of this category of religiously motivated hate crime is a murder in 2016. 7 ISIS terrorists were convicted for shooting a school principal in Kanpur because they got ‘triggered’ seeing the Kalava on his wrist and tilak that he had put. In this, the Hindu victim had offered no provocation except for his Hindu religious identity. The motivation for the murder was purely religious, driven by religious supremacy. Such cases where Hindus are targeted merely for their religious identity would be documented as a hate crime. Under this category, cases where the attack led to the death of the Hindu victim/s would be documented. In this case, a Hindu woman, Molina Roy, was brutally murdered by a few unidentified assailants inside her residence in Jhalakathi town, Bangladesh, while her family had gone to participate in the Rath Yatra festival. In the prevailing environment of anti-Hindu hostility in Bangladesh, the incident aligned with the broader pattern of insecurity, violence, and targeting faced by vulnerable Hindu minorities. While some may argue that the available details do not explicitly establish a religious motive, the broader context of anti-Hindu hostility, persecution, and insecurity in Bangladesh remains relevant for classification. During periods marked by sustained violence, intimidation, and targeting of Hindus based on their religious identity, the Hinduphobia Tracker applies a contextual presumption that attacks on Hindu victims may be faith-targeted, even when immediate reports do not record an explicit religious motive or attribute the violence to criminal or local circumstances. In such circumstances, the vulnerability of Hindu communities and the normalisation of hostility towards religious minorities can contribute to attacks occurring without perpetrators openly expressing religious intent. For the purpose of documenting the 2024 to 2026 ethnic cleansing of Hindus in Bangladesh and the subsequent persecution following the political exile of Sheikh Hasina, the death of Sharif Osman Hadi, and the 13th National Parliamentary Election 2026, the Hinduphobia Tracker records such incidents as likely religiously motivated at the point of entry. If any case is later established through credible investigation or court findings to stem from motivations other than religious hostility, it will be revised or removed from the hate crime database. The murder of Molina Roy, whose body was found wrapped in a sack and concealed inside a room of her own house after her family returned from the Rath Yatra festival, generated concern among local Hindus due to the brutal nature of the crime and the victim's status as a member of a vulnerable religious minority. The fact that she was targeted while she was alone at home, and that the murder occurred when her family had gone to participate in the Rath Yatra festival, a major Hindu religious celebration, further heightened concerns surrounding the circumstances of the killing. The timing of the attack during an important Hindu festival also intensified fears among the Hindu community about the vulnerability of its members during religious observances, reinforcing concerns that Hindu festivals and festival-related gatherings may leave members of the community particularly exposed to targeted violence. This incident must also be viewed within the broader context of hostility affecting vulnerable minority communities, particularly Hindus, in Bangladesh, where violent crimes against Hindus are frequently attributed to robbery, personal disputes, criminal activity, or other local factors. While the police suspected that the perpetrators may have entered the house with the intention of committing robbery, the prevailing pattern of attacks against Hindus under seemingly ordinary pretexts raises concerns that religious hostility may not always receive adequate consideration during the initial stages of investigation. In many such cases, early explanations can obscure the underlying motive until a comprehensive investigation is completed. The brutal murder of Molina Roy inside her own residence also intensified fear and anxiety within the local Hindu community. The manner in which her body was wrapped in a sack and concealed inside a room, coupled with the fact that the attack took place while her family had gone to participate in the Rath Yatra festival, reinforced existing concerns among Hindus regarding their safety and vulnerability in an environment where attacks against members of the Hindu community often occur under suspicious circumstances. The incident also strengthened fears that even crimes appearing to stem from conventional motives, such as robbery, may occur within a broader environment of sustained hostility towards Hindus, making it essential that all possible motives, including religious hostility, are thoroughly examined during the investigation. Given the prevailing anti-Hindu persecution environment in Bangladesh and the continuing pattern of violence affecting vulnerable Hindu minorities, this case met the threshold for inclusion in the Hinduphobia Tracker's hate crime database.