Hindu college student ends life after harassment by two Muslim youths in Bangladesh

Case ID : 90a0722 | Location : Patuakhali District, Bangladesh | Date of Incident : Sun, 2 February, 2025

Case ID : 90a0722

Patuakhali District, Bangladesh

2 February, 2025

Hindu college student ends life after harassment by two Muslim youths in Bangladesh

Attack resulting in death

Attacked for Hindu identity

Case Summary

A Hindu girl student committed suicide following harassment and humiliation from two Muslim youths in Patuakhali, Bangladesh. The incident occurred on the night of February 3, 2025, at her home in Ward No. 1 of Daspara Union, Bauphal Upazila. The victim, 20-year-old Iti Das, was a first-year honours student at Barisal Government Hatem Ali College. She had returned home for the Saraswati Puja holiday. On the day of the incident, she went out with a friend to a restaurant near the public field around noon. There, two youths, identified as Hridoy and Raihan, the sons of a local Jatiya Party leader, began harassing and taunting her. Feeling unsafe, Iti and her friend called the police at 999 instead of informing their families. SI Shaheen from Bauphal Police Station arrived and took them to the police station. They were released after a short time. Deeply disturbed by the incident, Iti returned home around 4:30 PM and went straight to her room on the second floor. She did not come down after that. Later that evening, her family called her for dinner, but she did not respond. Her mother went upstairs and found her hanging. She was rushed to the hospital, where doctors declared her dead. Her cousin, Sanjay Das, stated that Iti took her life because she could not endure the mental torture and humiliation. He demanded a proper investigation and strict punishment for those responsible. Officer-in-Charge Kamal Hossain of Bauphal Police Station confirmed that the body had been sent to Patuakhali for an autopsy. The police arrested the two accused.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the prime category of- Attack resulting in death. Under this, the sub-category selected here 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. To document 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.