Hindu professor harassed and abused by Muslims in Bangladesh

Case ID : 90a077a | Location : Lalmonirhat District, Bangladesh | Date of Incident : Sat, 8 February, 2025

Case ID : 90a077a

Lalmonirhat District, Bangladesh

8 February, 2025

Hindu professor harassed and abused by Muslims in Bangladesh

Attack not resulting in death

Attacked for opposing radicals or trying to save victim

Attacked for Hindu identity

Case Summary

In Lalmonirhat, Bangladesh, a Hindu professor named Sri Dev Dulal Guha was harassed and abused by Muslims. He was a professor at Lalmonirhat College. Muslims wanted to vandalise the statue of Mujib-ur-Rehman, and the Hindu professor opposed it. Muslims got angry over this and spit on the Hindu professor's face, abused him, and harassed him. 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 various parts of the Islamic country in a major crackdown on Hindus. Further, the arrest of Hindu priests has exacerbated the situation, with Hindu minorities protesting across Bangladesh seeking justice.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the category of- Attack not 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. The second sub-category selected is- Attacked for opposing radicals or trying to save victim. In several cases, Hindus are attacked for opposing religiously motivated crimes being committed against a fellow Hindu or simply for voicing an opinion opposing radical elements, who either have in the past or continue to persecute Hindus. In such cases, the initial attack against the victim, against which the Hindu was trying to defend the victim, would also need to be classified as a religiously motivated hate crime. Since the initial crime itself was religiously motivated and the subsequent crime of attempting to save the victim or speaking against the radical elements ends up inviting a violent attack, it would also be classified as a religiously motivated hate crime under this category. The Hindu professor was harassed, abused, and spat on simply because he opposed Islamist radicals attempting to vandalise the statue of Mujib-ur-Rehman. This demonstrates a clear act of religious hatred and targeted aggression against a Hindu individual who took a stand against Islamist extremism. Moreover, this incident is part of a larger pattern of Islamist violence against Hindus in Bangladesh following the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government. The burning of Hindu homes, attacks on temples, abduction of Hindu women, and the arrest of Hindu priests indicate an orchestrated hate campaign against Hindus. This qualifies as a hate crime motivated by religious hatred and intolerance towards Hindus, with radicals using violence, threats, and intimidation to suppress Hindu voices.