Hindus mocked and threatened with violence: Islamists in Bangladesh slaughter cow on Indian flag, share pictures with derogatory captions online
Bangladesh 
6 June, 2025
Case Summary
On the occasion of Eid, a post surfaced on social featuring a provocative image of a slaughtered cow with a blood-soaked Indian flag beneath it. The image depicts a brutally slaughtered cow lying on the ground with its throat cut and lying in a pool of blood. The animal is positioned directly over the Indian national flag, which is drenched in cow's blood. A person’s blood-smeared arm holding a weapon is shown posing for the photo, indicating that he slaughtered the cow. X (formerly Twitter) handle Voice of Bangladesh posted this image, stating that, "On Eid al-Adha, Jamaat extremists in Bangladesh wiped cow’s blood on the Indian flag after slaughter — a clear act of provocation towards Indian Hindus and a symbolic threat of conflict. This is dangerous extremism, not religion." On searching further, it was found that several social media users shared this image with captions that were designed to provoke and offend Hindus and Indians. For instance, in a Facebook post by a profile named অ প দা র্থ ("Immaterial") shared the same image with a caption written in Bengali, which translates in English as: "Pajit: “Religion is personal, but festivals are for everyone.” Me: Alright then. Today you’re invited to my place for a beef feast... Cook it in such a way that the sound of crying can be heard even from the neighbouring country. In this subcontinent, a cow is not just an animal — it’s much more than that. " Another post from the account Youth Foundation Talora shared the same image along with the same caption as above, and also wrote: "In this subcontinent, beef is not just food — it is a symbol of cultural dominance. Even today, in the neighbouring country (India), Muslims are beaten to death for the “crime” of eating beef. In this country (Bangladesh), too, for the past 15 years, beef was banned in many student hostel canteens, and also in court canteens. Even after the mass uprising, do you not remember the chaos that broke out in Manikganj Nursing Institute over students eating beef during iftar? If any Muslim in this country shows an allergy toward cow sacrifice, be suspicious of them. " This coordinated pattern of online posts, accompanied by graphic visuals and incendiary captions, was clearly intended to humiliate, provoke, and incite hatred against Hindus and Indians. This incident serves as a grim reminder of the deep-rooted hatred towards Hindus harboured by Islamists in the Muslim-majority nation of Bangladesh; a hostility that has only intensified since the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government on August 5, 2024. After her violent ouster, Bangladesh 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 various parts of the Islamic country in a major crackdown on Hindus. Reports have exposed how Muslim students forced around 60 Hindu teachers, professors, and government officials to resign. Exiled Bangladeshi activist Asad Noor has also revealed that the minority Hindu community is now being coerced into joining ‘Jamaat-e-Islami’. Hindu religious events have been repeatedly targeted. On 6th September, a procession carrying Lord Ganesha’s idol was attacked in Chittagong. Ahead of Durga Puja, multiple incidents of idol vandalism occurred, including attacks in Mymensingh, Pabna, Rajshahi, Kishoreganj, and Dhaka. On 29th November, a violent Muslim mob attacked three temples in Patharghata, Chittagong, immediately after Jumma Namaz. The crackdown on Hindu voices has also escalated. On 30th November, Hindu journalist Munni Saha was arrested in Dhaka. Muslim mob attacks have increased in Bangladesh, for example, on 22nd May 2025, a Muslim mob carried out arson attacks selectively on Hindu homes in Dahar Mashihati village in Abhaynagar upazila in Jessore district of Bangladesh. Even ISKCON leader Chinmoy Krishna Das Prabhu and his aides have been targeted, and attempts have been made to ban ISKCON and suppress Hindu protests through sedition charges. These arbitrary actions point to a systematic pattern of persecution under Muhammad Yunus’s interim government.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category of: - Hate speech against Hindus. Within it, the sub-category selected: - Anti-Hindu slurs, mocking faith. Anti-Hindu slurs and the deliberate mocking of the Hindu faith owing to religious animosity involve the usage of derogatory terms, stereotypes, or offensive references to religious practices, symbols, or figures. One of the common anti-Hindu slurs used against Hindus is “cow-worshipper” and “cow piss drinker”. The intention of using this term is to demean and mock Hindus as a group and their religious beliefs since Hindus consider the cow holy. Additionally, some symbols and the slurs attached to them have a historical context that exacerbates the insult, hate, stereotyping, dehumanisation and oppression against Hindus. Cow worship has been used for centuries to denigrate Hindus, insult their faith and oppress Hindus specifically as a religious group. There has been overwhelming documentation about how cow slaughter has been used to persecute Hindus with cow meat being thrown in temples and places of worship. There has also been overwhelming documentation where cow meat (beef) has been force-fed to Hindus to either forcefully convert them to Islam or denigrate their faith. Apart from cow worship, the Swastika – which holds deep religious significance for the Hindus – has also been misinterpreted and distorted to use as a slur against Hindus. Similarly, the worship of the Shivling has been used by supremacist ideologies and religions to denigrate Hindus owing to religious animosity. Such slurs and denigration stem out of inherent animosity and hate towards Hindus and their faith, therefore, it is categorised as hate speech targeted at Hindus specifically owing to their religious identity. The second sub-category relevant here is: - Call for genocide/violence against Hindus/specific sects of Hindus. Hate speech is defined as any speech, gesture, conduct, writing, or display that is prejudicial against a specific individual and/or group of people, which is leading to or may lead to violence, prejudicial action or hate against that individual and/or group. Often, animosity against Hindus or a specific panth/sampradaya/group of Hindus or a specific ideology they hold manifests itself into hate speech and calls for genocide/violence against that specific section of Hindus. For example, it has often been seen that those who hold animosity against the Hindu faith use specific sects/sampradaya/pant of Hindus as a proxy to express hate against Hindus as a whole. It has been seen that the word ‘Hindutva’ has been used to call for violence against those who say they believe in ‘Hindutva’. It is observed that ‘Hindutva’ is only used as a proxy to call for violence against Hindus as a whole, as seen in the Dismantling Global Hindutva conference where speakers admitted that ‘Hindutva’ cannot be eradicated till ‘Hinduism’ is eradicated. The eradication of an entire faith, in turn, is a genocidal call against the entire community that practices that faith. Further, it is also observed that violence against a specific section of Hindus is made, justifying these calls by weaving exaggerated tales of historical injustices. Often, those who hold animosity towards Hindus and their faith attempt to make their animosity more palatable by justifying their hate for a specific section, claiming that they are against that particular section because of their faith in the broader community and the religion they process. Such calls for violence against specific sections of Hindus, as mentioned, is a proxy for their animosity against the entire community and the faith they profess, and therefore, would be considered hate speech under this category. The third sub-category selected here is: - Violent threats. Violent threats, explicit, implicit or implied, is the most dangerous form of hate speech since it goes beyond discriminatory and prejudicial language to express the intent of causing harm to an individual or a group of people based on their religious identity and faith. There could be several different kinds of threats that are issued to Hindus based on religious animosity. An explicit threat would mean the direct threat of violence towards an individual Hindu, a group of Hindus or Hindus at large. Physical violence, death threats, threats of destruction of property belonging to Hindus and threats of genocide would mean explicit threats against Hindus for their religious identity. Implicit threats may not be a direct threat but implied through the use of symbols of actions – for example – in the Nupur Sharma case, other than explicit threats, there were also implicit threats when Islamists took to the streets to burn and beat her effigies. It implies that they want to do the same to Nupur Sharma – thereby is considered an implicit threat. Violent threats can be delivered in person, through letters, phone calls, graffiti, or increasingly through social media and other online platforms. It would be important to understand that a threat – explicit or implicit, online or offline – to an individual who happens to be a Hindu does not qualify as a religiously motivated threat. Such a threat, while vile and dangerous, could be owing to non-religious reasons and/or personal animosity. To qualify as a religiously motivated threat, it would need to exhibit an indication that the individual is being targeted for religious reasons and/or owing to his/her religious identity as a Hindu. This case has been added to the tracker because of the brutal and violent imagery used by Islamists in an open attempt to mock, provoke, and threaten Indians and, by extension, Hindus in India. The cow is considered sacred in Hinduism, symbolising life and nourishment. The act of slaughtering a cow, especially in a deliberately provocative and graphic manner on top of an Indian flag, was not a random act in this context; instead, it was targeted, symbolic, and deliberate. There is ample historical documentation of how cow slaughter has been used to humiliate Hindus, desecrate temples, and even force religious conversion by making Hindus consume beef. The message was clear: the fate of the cow is meant to parallel the fate of Hindus, especially those who revere it. In this case, the cow becomes a surrogate for the Hindu community, and the act of slaughtering it becomes a veiled threat of communal violence. It functions as a symbolic call to violence and a portrayal of religious animosity and hatred. The Facebook posts by অ প দা র্থ (Immaterial) and Youth Foundation Talora both shared the image with captions that deliberately mocked Hindus and carried implicit threats. The line about cooking the beef “in such a way that the crying is heard even from the neighbouring country” wasn’t just rhetoric; it was crafted to taunt and emotionally injure Hindus, while glorifying the act of cow slaughter as a victory over them. It weaponised Eid and beef to send a message of hate and supremacy. Youth Foundation Talora went even further by calling beef a "symbol of cultural dominance." They distorted facts to push the narrative that "Muslims are beaten to death for eating beef", completely ignoring the fact that beef/cow slaughter is banned in several Indian states due to its deep religious significance for Hindus. Thus, it was legal action that was being taken against Muslims for going against the law. This misinformation was a deliberate attempt to create resentment and portray Hindus as oppressors who need to be resisted. And when that messaging is paired with a blood-drenched Indian flag and a slaughtered cow, the intent becomes crystal clear- resistance through violence. While the image was meant to insult India, the deeper intent was to demonise Hindus, reflecting the Islamist view of India as a Hindu collectivity. It is pertinent to note that Muslim extremists harbour specific animosity towards Hindus and their faith and also view India as a Hindu collectivity. The very basis of the partition of India was that the Muslims believed that Islam was a nation unto itself, which could not survive with a Hindu collectivity like India. Thus, when Islamists weaponise religious imagery and invoke loyalty to the global Ummah, it is not mere provocation but a promotion of the idea that sees Hindus and the Indian nation as outsiders or enemies. For that reason, any speech which expresses transnational loyalty, faith in the Ummah, is automatically a slogan against Hindus and the Hindu collectivity, making it a religiously motivated hate crime.
Case Status
Unknown
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
Unknown
Perpetrators Gender
unknown
Sources 
