Hindu candidate targeted for his religious identity in Bangladesh; denied government appointment despite qualifying for the post

Case ID : 30aaedf | Location : Bangladesh | Date of Incident : Tue, 13 October, 2026

Case ID : 30aaedf

Bangladesh

13 October, 2026

Hindu candidate targeted for his religious identity in Bangladesh; denied government appointment despite qualifying for the post

Attack not resulting in death

Attacked for Hindu identity

Case Summary

In Bangladesh, a Hindu man, Chinmoy Barman, a former student of Dhaka University, was discriminated against and arbitrarily excluded from the final gazette of the 45th Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) examination during the police verification process. Despite clearing the preliminary, written and oral examinations, his name was missing from the final gazette published on 14 October 2026. Chinmoy belonged to a poor Hindu family, and his father earned his livelihood through fishing. Despite their limited financial means, Chinmoy continued his education and prepared for the BCS examination. After the recruitment notification was published in 2022, he applied for the 45th BCS examination while pursuing his graduation. He continued his preparation alongside his Master's studies and, with the help of friends, managed the conflicting examination schedules. He sat for his Master's examination the day after the BCS written examination. After completing all three stages of the selection process, the committee recommended him for the police cadre. However, despite successfully completing the selection process, Chinmoy's name was not included in the final gazette. He stated that no criminal cases had been registered against him and that he had not been involved in any anti-state activities. He also received no specific explanation from the concerned authorities for his exclusion and no response to his requests for clarification. Chinmoy further stated that he did not know what information the intelligence report contained regarding his political identity or affiliations. He maintained that neither he nor any member of his family had any political affiliation. He also experienced various forms of pressure while residing in his university hall during his studies. Questioning his exclusion, Chinmoy described the decision as discriminatory towards a citizen and pointed to possible errors or inconsistencies in the verification process. He called on the authorities to reconsider the decision, clearly communicate the reasons for excluding candidates and ensure that the scrutiny process was not used to harass them. He also appealed to the elected government to reconsider the decision and publish the gazette so that he and the other affected candidates could join their colleagues in November 2026. The final gazette for the 45th BCS examination was published on 14 October 2026, following a wait of 322 days. Of the candidates recommended for appointment, the government excluded 105 from the final gazette and published it for 1,702 candidates. The Bangladesh Public Service Commission had issued the recruitment notification on 30 November 2022 for 2,309 vacant posts. The three-stage selection process, comprising preliminary, written and oral examinations, concluded on 24 November 2024. On 6 November 2025, the Commission published the results and provisionally recommended 1,807 candidates for cadre positions. Notably, Chinmoy Barman's case was not an isolated incident of Hindu employees being targeted and discriminated against in Bangladesh or forced out of their professional positions. Hinduphobia Tracker had documented three previous major instances highlighting the discrimination and harassment faced by Hindu professionals in the country. In one such instance, on 5 August 2024, more than 49 Hindu teachers were forced to resign from their posts by Muslim extremist student groups and mobs. Gautam Chandra Pal, a Chemistry teacher at Azimpur Government College who was recognised as the best teacher, was forced to resign under pressure from Muslim students. Similarly, Sonali Rani Das, an Assistant Professor at Holy Red Crescent Nursing College in Dhaka, was forced to resign amid harassment. In another particularly distressing case, a 55-year-old Hindu teacher recounted how her Muslim students physically locked her inside her office and demanded her resignation. She described having to jump out of a window to escape, highlighting the betrayal she felt at the hands of students she had once taught, who subsequently labelled her a “Kafir” and “Malaun”. In another instance, a Hindu female teacher, Litu Rani, also known as Ritu Rani, who taught Islam and moral education at Sacherlapur School and College in Jhalokati district, was suspended from her position following protests by Muslim students over false accusations of blasphemy. The students accused her of making derogatory remarks about Islam, the Quran and Allah during a classroom lesson. They organised demonstrations and demanded punishment against her. Following the protests, the school authorities suspended the Hindu teacher, while the local administration monitored the situation. In another instance, in Pirojpur, a Hindu bank officer working at Dutch-Bangla Bank was targeted by a former Muslim employee, who falsely accused him of insulting Islam. The Hindu officer stated that the allegations were fabricated and deliberately circulated on Facebook to humiliate him, damage his professional reputation and put his job at risk. In another case, a Hindu teacher, Rahul Das, was discriminated against on account of his religious identity. He was denied appointment as an Assistant Teacher at a government primary school despite successfully passing the recruitment examination and qualifying for the post. 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 by a Muslim mob over false blasphemy allegations, after which his body was set ablaze. 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, religious hostility and discrimination in professional life.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This incident has been added under the category: Attack not resulting in death. Under 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. In this case, a Hindu civil service aspirant was arbitrarily excluded from government appointment despite successfully clearing the competitive examinations and qualifying for the post. The denial of a hard-earned opportunity to a qualified Hindu candidate demonstrated discriminatory treatment on account of his religious identity. Government appointments must be based on merit, qualifications and eligibility, irrespective of an individual's religion. A Hindu candidate must not be denied public employment simply because of his faith. The arbitrary exclusion of a qualified Hindu aspirant displayed religious hostility by treating him as undeserving of an opportunity for which he had successfully competed. Such discrimination deprived the victim of the opportunity to advance professionally, achieve economic security and contribute to public service. It demonstrated how religious identity can become a barrier to an individual's aspirations and participation in public life. This was not an isolated incident or merely a case of administrative or bureaucratic mishandling. Hinduphobia Tracker has documented a wider pattern in Bangladesh in which Hindu teachers, students, government employees and professionals across different sectors have been selectively targeted, discriminated against, denied employment opportunities and forced out of their positions under different pretexts. These included instances of Hindu teachers being intimidated and coerced into resigning, a Hindu female teacher being suspended following protests by Muslim students over accusations of blasphemy, a Hindu bank officer being targeted through a campaign accusing him of insulting Islam, and another Hindu teacher being denied appointment despite qualifying for a government post. The recurrence of such incidents across different institutions and professional sectors demonstrated a deep-rooted pattern of bias and prejudice against Hindus on account of their religious identity. Public employment must remain impartial and accessible to every qualified citizen, but the repeated exclusion of Hindu professionals demonstrated how members of the community were being deprived of opportunities to succeed, build their careers and participate in public institutions because of their faith. Chinmoy's exclusion therefore formed part of a wider pattern of anti-Hindu discrimination rather than an isolated recruitment mishap. Furthermore, the incident demonstrated how the police verification and intelligence-screening process can become a means of excluding Hindu candidates from public employment even after they fulfil the prescribed eligibility requirements. The exclusion of qualified Hindu candidates at the verification stage undermined the principles of transparent, impartial and merit-based recruitment. The absence of clear explanations and accountability for such decisions left Hindu candidates vulnerable to arbitrary exclusion and deprived them of equal access to government service. The state is responsible for ensuring that recruitment procedures remain neutral in matters of religion and that no candidate is disadvantaged because of their faith. The discriminatory use of administrative procedures to deny Hindu candidates public appointments demonstrated a failure to uphold the principle of equal treatment, making this an instance of religiously driven hate crime. The incident also unfolded against the backdrop of longstanding persecution and systemic discrimination against Hindus in Bangladesh. Following the ouster of Sheikh Hasina's government on 5 August 2024 and her subsequent departure from the country, Hindu communities faced widespread violence, including attacks on Hindu homes, businesses and temples, desecration of religious sites, forced conversions and sexual violence against Hindu women. Hindu teachers, intellectuals and government employees were also targeted, intimidated and forced to resign from their positions. The targeting of Hindu professionals and their exclusion from public institutions formed another dimension of the wider hostility faced by the minority community. This broader environment of anti-Hindu persecution demonstrated the extent of religious hostility faced by Hindus in Bangladesh, extending beyond physical violence to discrimination in employment, education and public institutions. The exclusion of a qualified Hindu candidate from government service demonstrated how religious discrimination deprived Hindus of equal opportunities and obstructed their ability to progress professionally, achieve economic independence and contribute to society through public service. Such treatment undermined the fundamental principle that every citizen must have equal access to opportunities irrespective of religious identity.  Considering the circumstances of the victim's exclusion, the wider pattern of employment-based discrimination documented by Hinduphobia Tracker and the broader environment of anti-Hindu hostility in Bangladesh, the incident could not be dismissed as an ordinary administrative discrepancy. It constituted a case of religiously driven discrimination against a Hindu candidate and was therefore included in the Hinduphobia Tracker's Hate Crime Database. Disclaimer: The Hinduphobia Tracker records the incident date based on when the victim’s ordeal began rather than when the incident was reported by the media. The exact date on which the incident began was when the list was first published on 14 October 2026. Therefore, it was selected as the indicative incident date for documentation purposes only.