6-day old Hindu infant kidnapped, killed despite ransom payment

Case ID : 59548b6 | Location : Gopalganj District, Bangladesh | Date of Incident : Wed, 14 August, 2024
Case ID : 59548b6
location Gopalganj District, Bangladesh
date 14 August, 2024
6-day old Hindu infant kidnapped, killed despite ransom payment
Attack resulting in death
Attacked for Hindu identity

Case Summary

Since the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government on August 5, 2024, the Hindu minority community in Bangladesh has been targeted and several temples have been destroyed in the area in a major crackdown on Hindus. Amid this, reports emerged that a 6-year-old infant named Arnab Biswas was abducted from his home in the Tarail village in GopalGanj District, while his mother, Madhuri, was bathing at a nearby tubewell. Later that evening, his father, Sachin Biswas, received a call from an unknown number demanding a ransom of approximately 50,000 taka. Sachin managed to pay 10,000 taka to the kidnappers. However, they did not return Arnab. On August 15th, his lifeless body was discovered floating in a nearby pond.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the category- Attack resulting in death and under this, the sub-category 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. When there is an ongoing ethnic cleansing based on religious identity, every crime in and of itself is assumed to be motivated by the same religious animosity even if there is a lack of specific religious marker in the immediate crime. During an ongoing ethnic cleansing, the dehumanisation of people based on their religious identity and the normalisation of religious hostility drives the crimes committed against them even when there is a lack of stated religious motive. For the purpose of documenting the 2024 ethnic cleansing of Hindus in Bangladesh, the Hinduphobia Tracker is assuming religious motivation ab initio. If a case is specifically and beyond reasonable doubt proven to be driven by motivations other than religious hostility, it will post-facto be removed from the hate crime database.

Victim Details

Total Victim

1

Deceased

1


Gender

  • Male 1
  • Female 0
  • Third Gender 0
  • Unknown 0

Caste

  • SC/ST 0
  • OBC 0
  • General 1
  • Unknown 0

Age Group

  • Minor 1
  • Adult 0
  • Senior Citizen 0
  • Unknown 0
Case Status Background
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Case Status


Unknown

Case Status Background
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Perpetrators Details

Perpetrators


Unknown

Perpetrators Range


Unknown

Perpetrators Gender


unknown

Case Details SVG
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