Hindu man tortured to death by police officers in Bangladesh amidst ongoing persecution of Hindus

Case ID : 8da19b5 | Location : Bangladesh | Date of Incident : Fri, 14 November, 2025

Case ID : 8da19b5

Bangladesh

14 November, 2025

Hindu man tortured to death by police officers in Bangladesh amidst ongoing persecution of Hindus

Attack resulting in death

Attacked for Hindu identity

Case Summary

In Bangladesh, a 32-year-old deaf and mute Hindu fisherman named Bablu Das was tortured to death while in police custody. The police claimed that he died of a heart attack; however, the deceased victim's family clearly stated that he was tortured to death by the police. According to reports, Bablu Das was intercepted by the Bangladesh Navy along with 33 other Indian fishermen in July 2025 for accidentally venturing into the country’s waters and was lodged in prison. Following this, on 15th November 2025, Bangladeshi authorities claimed to Das’s family that he died of a “massive heart attack.” They claimed that he fell seriously ill in prison on 15th November 2025 and was rushed to a local hospital, where he died during treatment. However, his family members refused to accept the explanation. “This is not a natural death,” said Bablu’s brother Basudev Das. “We suspect he was tortured in jail. This was a premeditated murder,” he added. Das’s family demanded that his body be brought back to India without delay. Satyanath Patra, of the Sundarban Marine Fishermen Workers’ Union, said the issue was raised with the central government and “efforts were on to bring the body to Kakdwip soon.” Bengal government officials also said they expected Das’s body to arrive in Kakdwip’s Gangadharpur as soon as possible. The South 24 Parganas administration stated that diplomatic communication was in progress to obtain clearances to repatriate the body. Police sources said that on 13th July 2025, two trawlers named FB Mangalchandi and FB Jhar from Kakdwip, which had gone deep into the sea to catch hilsa fish, were seized by the Bangladesh Navy for venturing into Bangladeshi waters. This resulted in the deceased victim, along with other fishermen, being detained by Bangladeshi officials. This case serves as a stark reminder of the continued persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh, which has only increased manifold 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 took 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- Attack resulting in death. Within this, the subcategory 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. In this case, while the available details do not explicitly indicate a religious motive behind the crime, the broader context cannot be ignored. 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 a 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 drive 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 a reasonable doubt proven to be driven by motivations other than religious hostility, it will post-facto be removed from the hate crime database. Since the political exile of Sheikh Hasina on 5th August 2024, the persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh has intensified to an alarming level. In her absence, radical Islamist groups descended onto the streets, unleashing a violent rampage against the Hindu population. Hindus were attacked and killed for their religious identity; their homes, shops, and temples were attacked and desecrated; and countless Hindu women were abducted, raped, and forcibly converted to Islam. Even Hindu men and young children have not been spared. What is unfolding in Bangladesh is an ongoing campaign of ethnic cleansing — an attempt to systematically erase the Hindu community from its ancestral land. Amidst the heightened climate of terror in Bangladesh, the brutal torture and murder of the Hindu boy by Bangladeshi police officials exposed the deep-seated religious hatred that pervades the country. The victim’s family has unequivocally attested to the hostility and torture faced by the victim. The brutal torture resulting in the victim's death amidst ongoing religious persecution of Hindus clearly demonstrates that the deceased was targeted and killed due to his Hindu faith. This vicious act of calculated selection and execution by the authorities is a stark testament to the systemic persecution and prejudice faced by the Hindu community in Bangladesh. The relentless campaign against Hindu minorities manifests as widespread violence, discrimination, and intimidation affecting every facet of their lives. The murder of Bablu Das is a chilling symbol of this entrenched animosity directed at individuals simply because of their Hindu identity. Despite Bangladeshi officials' claims that the victim died of a heart attack, the family’s unwavering testimony that he was tortured to death demands urgent and serious attention. The blend of deliberate violence, the authorities’ failure to protect the victim, and the prevailing, pervasive religious hostility leaves no doubt that this was a hate crime driven by hatred of his Hindu identity. This case is not an isolated incident but part of a much larger and deeply disturbing campaign of religious persecution targeting Hindus. Notably, this is not the first time such a brutal murder of a Hindu has occurred in police custody in Bangladesh. The Hinduphobia Tracker has previously documented another horrific case. In August 2025, in Cox’s Bazar district, a Hindu man named Durjoy Chaudhary was tortured to death while in police custody. Authorities claimed the victim had committed suicide inside the lock-up, but Durjoy’s father rejected this account, insisting his son had been beaten and murdered. He stated that Durjoy’s body was discovered partially unclothed, with his feet touching the ground, visibly bearing signs of torture. The family then filed a formal complaint demanding justice. Given that this case clearly meets the criteria of a religiously motivated crime, it has been duly added to the hate crime database of the Hinduphobia Tracker.