Hindu schoolteacher harassed over unverified ‘blasphemy’ accusation in Rajshahi, Bangladesh

Case ID : 30aa49b | Location : Rajshahi, Rajshahi District, Bangladesh | Date of Incident : Tue, 8 September, 2026

Case ID : 30aa49b

Rajshahi, Rajshahi District, Bangladesh

8 September, 2026

Hindu schoolteacher harassed over unverified ‘blasphemy’ accusation in Rajshahi, Bangladesh

Attack not resulting in death

Attacked over 'Blasphemy'

Case Summary

In Charghat, Rajshahi, Bangladesh, a 50-year-old Hindu schoolteacher, Narayan Chandra, was targeted by residents and students over an unproven accusation. He was subsequently detained. He had been accused of posting derogatory content about Islam and madarsa education on Facebook. Narayan Chandra had been serving as a religion teacher at Bhatpara High School for nearly 25 years. The controversy began on the night of 8th September 2026, when residents attributed a Facebook post card about Islam and madarsa education to Narayan Chandra. The photocard contained comments that locals considered offensive and derogatory towards madarsas and Islam, including criticism concerning the treatment of students in madarsa institutions. The name “Mohiuddin Mohammad” appeared at the bottom of the disputed photocard. On the morning of 9th September 2026, several residents went to Bhatpara High School looking for Narayan Chandra after the disputed post came to their attention. When he entered the office of acting headteacher Rabia Khatun, residents and students confined the Hindu teacher inside the room. The school authorities subsequently contacted the police. Around noon on 9th September, police reached the school, took Narayan Chandra into custody, and brought him to Charghat Police Station. Officer-in-Charge Mahabubur Rahman said the teacher was detained after residents demanded it. When Narayan Chandra was detained, no written complaint had been submitted, and no formal case had been registered against him. Police were still examining the accusations and said they would take further legal action after consulting senior officers. Significantly, when police examined Narayan Chandra’s Facebook account on 9th September, the disputed photo card was not visible. His recent publicly visible posts included a photograph of himself uploaded that morning, a video of children playing posted three days earlier and a Janmashtami greeting posted five days earlier. Acting headteacher Rabia Khatun said Narayan Chandra had made Facebook posts in the past that drew objections from residents and that he had previously been advised not to make similar posts. However, she did not provide details of the specific madarsa-related photo card at the centre of the present incident. The case therefore involved a Hindu teacher being confronted and confined by residents and students, and then detained by police based on an unproven religious-offence accusation, before any written complaint or formal case had been filed and while the disputed post itself was still being examined. This incident occurred against the broader backdrop of the historical persecution faced by Hindus in Bangladesh. While the Hindu minority has endured discrimination, targeted violence, and religious hostility over decades, such persecution has intensified in distinct spurts during periods of political and social instability. The latest major escalation began after the ouster of Sheikh Hasina’s government in August 2024, continued after the death of Sharif Osman Bin Hadi in December 2025, and resurfaced in the immediate aftermath of the 13th National Parliamentary Election in 2026. Following the ouster of Sheikh Hasina, multiple incidents involving attacks on Hindu homes, temples and religious institutions were documented, alongside intimidation, arson and mob violence targeting Hindu localities. The Hinduphobia Tracker recorded 336 incidents involving the Hindu minority during this period, reflecting the scale of the escalation and the continuing vulnerability of Hindus in Bangladesh. A further spurt of violence followed the death of Sharif Osman Bin Hadi, a Muslim political activist and student leader known for his anti-Hindu and anti-India rhetoric, in December 2025. In the aftermath, Hindu communities were subjected to retaliatory violence, with Hindu homes and properties selectively attacked and several families forced to flee. Among the victims was Dipu Chandra Das, who was lynched and whose body was subsequently 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, further illustrating how existing hostility towards the Hindu minority intensified during moments of communal mobilisation. During the same period, posters and written material calling for the extermination of Hindus were also displayed in public spaces. Such rhetoric, when viewed alongside incidents of arson, vandalism, assault and targeted intimidation, reflected an environment in which hostility towards Hindus was not merely episodic but repeatedly resurfaced in more intense forms during periods of unrest. The most recent escalation followed the 13th National Parliamentary Election in 2026. In the immediate aftermath of the election results, Hindu families in districts including Noakhali, Rangpur, Nilphamari, Sylhet, Thakurgaon and Dinajpur faced attacks involving arson, looting, assault and vandalism of Hindu homes and temples. In several instances, Hindu properties were selectively targeted, and families were threatened with displacement. The present incident therefore occurred within a much longer history of persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh, where hostility towards the community has persisted over time and intensified in repeated spurts. The latest cycle began after the ouster of Sheikh Hasina and continued through subsequent periods of political and communal upheaval, leaving the Hindu minority increasingly vulnerable to targeted violence, intimidation and religious hostility.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

The primary category selected for this case is: Attack not resulting in death. The subcategory selected for this case is: Attacked over 'Blasphemy' Blasphemy essentially refers to the desecration of anything which is held sacred/holy to a group of people. However, for religious supremacist groups, the elements of ‘blasphemy’ are ever-changing, shifting and expanding – leading to infringement on the rights of other religious groups, freedom of speech and expression, threats and even physical violence. There are instances where blasphemy is also used as a dog whistle to target Hindus owing to intrinsic animosity towards Hinduism. There are several instances where stating truths as mentioned in the non-Hindu doctrine itself has led to unmitigated violence against Hindus. There have also been instances where non-Hindus have themselves created a ‘blasphemous’ situation, like placing a Quran in a temple, to use it as an excuse to attack Hindus. Essentially, Blasphemy charges are often made up and/or are used to shut down any form of criticism of non-Hindu faiths and as a tool to target Hindus. Any physical violence over Blasphemy charges against Hindus is foundationally based on animosity toward Hindus and their faith owing to religious supremacist ideologies; therefore, such attacks would be documented as religiously motivated hate crimes under this category. This case qualified as a religiously motivated hate crime because a Hindu schoolteacher was subjected to collective intimidation, confinement and police detention over an unproven accusation that he had insulted Islam and madarsa education. The trigger for the targeting was explicitly religious, and the unverified accusation of hurting Islamic sentiments was treated as sufficient to mobilise residents against a Hindu individual even before the authenticity and authorship of the disputed content had been established. The most significant element was the weaponisation of an unproven blasphemy accusation. Religious-offence accusations become particularly dangerous when they bypass verification and begin producing punitive consequences on their own. Here, the teacher was confined at his workplace and taken into police custody while the disputed photo card was not even visible on his Facebook account, and while police had not yet received a written complaint or registered a case. The accusation itself therefore became the instrument through which pressure and punishment were imposed. As seen in several cases, blasphemy law is often used as a tool of oppression and violence, leading to false accusations, mob justice, and social ostracisation of Hindus. This law, which is liberally used in Muslim-majority countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh to attack minority Hindus residing there, has become increasingly common in India too, where bloodthirsty Islamists often twist and use these laws to settle their scores with Hindus. The misuse of blasphemy laws against Hindus is often motivated by religious prejudice. Hindus are targeted because of their religious identity. Such disproportionate targeting of Hindus under these laws is not accidental but driven by deep-rooted religious prejudice, with blasphemy allegations serving as a tool of social control and communal suppression. Beyond religious animosity, it is important to recognise that blasphemy charges in such contexts are often weaponised to eliminate economic competition as well. In a country like Bangladesh, where the economy is on a downward trend and there is increased competition over limited resources, Hindus frequently become the first victims. Their religious identity makes them easy targets in an increasingly intolerant socio-economic landscape. This reflects the severe difficulties faced by Hindus trying to conduct business in Muslim-majority societies like Bangladesh, where religious hostility is frequently intertwined with economic suppression. Such incidents are not isolated but occur within a broader context of systematic discrimination and violence against Hindus in Bangladesh. The use of blasphemy allegations to incite mob violence and demand extreme punishments disproportionately affects religious minorities, particularly Hindus, and serves to intimidate and suppress them and their faith. This case, therefore, is not an isolated episode but part of a deeply entrenched pattern of religiously motivated hate and persecution of the Hindu community in Bangladesh. Therefore, this case is being added to the hate crime database. Disclaimer: The available material did not specify the identities or exact number of perpetrators who confronted and confined the Hindu teacher. The sources referred only to residents and students who gathered at the school and confined him, without naming the individuals involved or indicating their precise number. Therefore, the Hinduphobia Tracker has recorded the perpetrator identity and perpetrator count as “Unknown” for documentation purposes.