Hindu woman raped and poisoned to death amidst ethnic cleansing of Hindus in Bangladesh

Case Summary
A 50-year-old Hindu woman, Basana Mallik, was poisoned to death after being brutally gang-raped in Maijpara, Narail, Bangladesh. She succumbed to her injuries on December 26, 2024, at Jashore General Hospital, where doctors confirmed she had been raped and poisoned. The crime occurred on December 24, after a man named Rajibul lured her to Daulatpur village under the pretence of repaying borrowed money. Alongside accomplices Faruk, Chanchal, and Shafiqul, they raped her, filmed the act, and demanded Tk 200,000 to suppress the footage. When she resisted, they forced her to ingest poison. Since the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government on August 5, 2024, Bangladesh has plunged into chaos as Islamist extremists have taken advantage of the political turmoil to unleash a wave of terror and violence against the Hindu community. The Islamist mobs have attacked Hindu homes, burned them to the ground, and abducted women in a horrific descent into anarchy. Several temples have been destroyed in the area in a major crackdown on Hindus. Further, the arrest of three Hindu priests has exacerbated the situation with Hindu minorities protesting across Bangladesh seeking justice.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
The case has been added to the tracker under the prime category of- Attack resulting in death. Under this, the first 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 0
- Female 1
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 1
- Unknown 0
Age Group
- Minor 0
- Adult 1
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0

Case Status
Complaint filed

Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 2 To 5
Perpetrators Gender
male