Minor Hindu boy brutally murdered and his dead body dumped in a paddy field in Bangladesh

Case ID : 30aac3e | Location : Dinajpur District, Bangladesh | Date of Incident : Mon, 5 October, 2026

Case ID : 30aac3e

Dinajpur District, Bangladesh

5 October, 2026

Minor Hindu boy brutally murdered and his dead body dumped in a paddy field in Bangladesh

Undecided cases

Attacked/Killed for Hindu identity

Attacks against Hindus in Muslim majority nations

Murder of Hindus in Muslim majority nations

Case Summary

In Mahanpur Senpara village of Muhammadpur Union under Birganj Upazila in Dinajpur, Bangladesh, a 17-year-old Hindu boy named Prashanta Roy, son of Ramesh Chandra Roy, was abducted and murdered. His body was later found dumped in a paddy field. According to reports, Prashanta had been missing since the night of 6 October 2026 and was suspected to have been abducted by a Muslim criminal gang. After he went missing, his family received no ransom demand and lodged a missing person complaint at the Birganj police station. The following day, a group of morning walkers discovered a body lying in a paddy field near Birganj and informed the police. The police recovered the body and took it to Birganj Hospital for a post-mortem examination, where it was identified as that of Prashanta Roy. His parents reached the hospital after being informed of the recovery and broke down in grief upon seeing their son's body in the morgue. Following the recovery, Prashanta's mother was also seen grieving over his death. In a social media post circulated in connection with the incident, she stated that she had not gone anywhere and had remained at home. The incident was subsequently highlighted on social media as another case involving violence against a member of Bangladesh's Hindu minority. A Muslim criminal gang was identified as the suspected abductors, although the available information did not establish the identities of the individuals involved or conclusively determine who had carried out the murder. The circumstances in which Prashanta was taken and killed also remained unclear. His killing added to concerns over the safety of Hindus in Bangladesh amid reports of violence against members of the Hindu minority community. 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 and continued after the ouster of Sheikh Hasina’s government in August 2024, followed by another surge after the death of Sharif Osman Bin Hadi in December 2025, and subsequently 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 ?

This case is being added to the Undecided database of the Hinduphobia Tracker because the available details do not establish a religious motive behind the crime. The fact that the victim was a Hindu minor who was murdered and whose body was dumped in a paddy field raises questions about whether he was targeted because of his religious identity. These concerns must also be viewed against the broader historical context of persecution faced by Hindus in Bangladesh. For decades, members of the Hindu minority have faced violence, including attacks on their homes, the destruction and desecration of temples, sexual violence against women, and killings targeting members of the community. The situation has drawn renewed concern following the political exile of Sheikh Hasina in August 2024, after which numerous incidents of violence against Hindus have been documented. The Hinduphobia Tracker has itself documented numerous cases of religiously motivated hate crimes against Hindus in Bangladesh. Against this backdrop of historical persecution and continuing concerns over the safety of the Hindu minority, the brutal murder of a 17-year-old Hindu boy and the disposal of his body in a paddy field naturally raise questions about whether his religious identity played a role in the crime. However, while the historical persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh and the broader context of anti-Hindu violence cannot be disregarded, classifying this particular incident as a religiously motivated hate crime requires evidence of a religious motive specific to the case. At the time of documentation, no such religious markers were available in the public domain. Neither the victim's parents nor the police had indicated that he was targeted because he was Hindu, and there was no available information suggesting that the perpetrators used religious slurs, referred to his Hindu identity or otherwise demonstrated that the murder was motivated by religious hostility. In the absence of such evidence, it remains difficult to establish a direct link between the victim's religious identity and his murder. Although the possibility of religious targeting cannot be entirely ruled out, the crime could also have stemmed from non-religious motives, including personal enmity, robbery or another criminal dispute. The brutality of the murder and the victim's religious identity, in themselves, are insufficient to establish that the crime was religiously motivated. The Hinduphobia Tracker follows strict parameters for classifying incidents as religiously motivated hate crimes, requiring identifiable indicators of religious targeting or evidence establishing a connection between the crime and the victim's Hindu identity. Since the available information in this case does not establish such a connection, the incident is being retained in the 'Undecided database' rather than classified as a confirmed hate crime. If further evidence emerges demonstrating that the murder was motivated by religious hostility towards the victim because he was Hindu, the case will be reassessed and moved to the Hinduphobia Tracker's hate crime database, as appropriate. Disclaimer: Although suspicions have circulated that a Muslim criminal gang may have been involved in the crime, this has not been confirmed by the police, established by any media reports or verified by the victim’s parents. The Hinduphobia Tracker was also unable to independently verify the identity of the perpetrators. Therefore, the perpetrators have been documented as “Unknown” at the time of documentation. If further information emerges confirming the involvement of a Muslim criminal gang, the perpetrator classification will be revised to “Muslims”, as appropriate.