Bangladesh govt whitewashes ethnic cleansing of Hindus, denies persecution
Dhaka, Dhaka District, Bangladesh 
2 December, 2024
Case Summary
On December 3, 2024, Shafiqul Alam, press secretary to Bangladesh’s interim government led by Muhammad Yunus, asserted that the country’s Hindu minority enjoys greater protection under the current administration compared to the rule of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Speaking to India Today, Alam refuted allegations of a deliberate crackdown on Hindus and accused Indian media of orchestrating an "industrial-scale misinformation campaign" to misrepresent the situation in Bangladesh. According to Alam, such narratives aim to falsely portray Hindus as being under siege. Alam acknowledged incidents targeting the Hindu community, including an attack on a temple in the Chittagong region and an attempted assault on three ISKCON centers. However, he emphasised that security measures had been ramped up to prevent further violence. He described the interim government’s efforts as inclusive, committed to ensuring the human rights of all Bangladeshis, irrespective of religion or ethnicity. He cited measures such as deploying troops to guard ISKCON temples and facilitating the peaceful celebration of Durga Puja as evidence of the government’s dedication to protecting minorities. While Alam denied any systematic targeting, the Bangladeshi attorney general referred to ISKCON as a “fundamentalist organisation” during a court hearing on a petition to ban the group. Although the court declined to outlaw ISKCON, the government subsequently froze the bank accounts of 17 individuals associated with the organisation. These actions fueled allegations of bias against the group.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case is being added to the primary category 'Hate speech against Hindus' under the sub-category 'Denial or mocking of genocide/large scale persecution'. Denial or mocking of genocide/large-scale persecution/ethnic cleansing refers to the act of denying or minimizing the fact of the ethnic cleansing and/or genocide and/or religious persecution of Hindus. This often involves denying the scale, mechanisms, religious intent, or even the occurrence of the ethnic cleansing and/or genocide and/or religious persecution of Hindus. Hate speech of this kind involves the dissemination of falsehoods that deny or distort established historical facts or mock the suffering of Hindus by saying that they deserved the persecution, motivated by Hinduphobia. Denying such atrocities is not only about the denial of facts or rewriting/revising history, but it also delegitimises the religiously motivated persecution of Hindus, the religious hate/motivation/animosity that led to the persecution, and dehumanises Hindus as a religious group. Such denial of ethnic cleansing and/or genocide and/or religious persecution of Hindus not only denies the suffering but also paves the way for future/present atrocities and hate speech, inciting prejudice and violence against Hindus. It also provides a justification for violence by delinking religious animosity from religiously motivated crimes committed against Hindus. Since such denial and/or mocking of genocide/ethnic cleansing/atrocities motivated by religious animosity leads to present and future ramifications of creating more hate speech, violence, dehumanisation and delegitimisation, it would be considered hate speech under this category. On August 5th 2024, Bangladesh plunged into chaos after a successful coup ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, forcing her to flee the country as an enraged mob approached her residence. In the wake of the coup, Islamists exploited the unrest to launch violent attacks on the Hindu community, leading to numerous deaths, rapes, and the destruction of Hindu homes, shops, and temples, many of which were set on fire. Since then, Hindus have been under constant onslaught by the Bangladesh govt and the Muslim mobs on the streets. Hindus have been murdered, raped, lynched, asked to pay jiziya, persecuted and jailed, their houses burnt down and livlihood taken away. On a daily basis, there are calls for large scale persecution of Hindus dehumanising them. The denial of large scale persecution dehumanises a religious group further, paving the way for ongoing and future persecution as well. The Bangladesh government, while actively persecuting Hindus, is denying the large scale violence, further empowering the mobs to persecute Hindus by whitewashing and legitimising their actions. For that reason, this is being documented as a hate crime.
Case Status
Unknown
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
State and Establishment
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
male
Sources 
