Hindu teacher suspended by school in Bangladesh after Muslim students accuse him of 'insulting' Islam

Case ID : 7f64d5c | Location : Jessore District, Bangladesh | Date of Incident : Tue, 24 January, 2023

Case ID : 7f64d5c

Jessore District, Bangladesh

24 January, 2023

Hindu teacher suspended by school in Bangladesh after Muslim students accuse him of 'insulting' Islam

Attack not resulting in death

Attacked over 'Blasphemy'

Case Summary

A Hindu school teacher by the name of Newton Sarkar was suspended after being accused of making ‘offensive remarks’ against Islam and the Prophet Muhammad by his Muslim students in Abhaynagar in Jessore district in the Khulna Division of Bangladesh. The Muslim students in his class lodged a complaint with the school principal, accusing the Hindu teacher of committing blasphemy. Later, a large mob of angry students, parents and Islamic clerics stormed into the school to demand his suspension. The administration gave in to their demands and temporarily suspended the Hindu teacher. While speaking about the matter, Newton Sarkar dismissed the allegations levelled at him by his Muslim students.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

Blasphemy essentially refers to the desecration of anything which is held sacred/holy to a group of people. However, for religious supremacist groups, the elements of ‘blasphemy’ are ever-changing, shifting and expanding – leading to infringement on the rights of other religious groups, freedom of speech and expression, threats and even physical violence. There are instances where blasphemy is also used as a dog whistle to target Hindus owing to intrinsic animosity towards Hinduism. There are several instances where stating truths as mentioned in the non-Hindu doctrine itself has led to unmitigated violence against Hindus. There have also been instances where non-Hindus have themselves created a ‘blasphemous’ situation, like placing a Quran in a temple, to use it as an excuse to attack Hindus. Essentially, Blasphemy charges are often made up and/or are used to shut down any form of criticism of non-Hindu faiths and as a tool to target Hindus. Any physical violence over Blasphemy charges against Hindus are foundationally based on animosity for Hindus and their faith owing to religious supremacist ideologies, therefore, such attacks would be documented as religious motivated hate crimes under this category.