Hindu man found dead amid ongoing persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh

Case ID : 9958596 | Location : Satkhira District, Bangladesh | Date of Incident : Tue, 2 September, 2025

Case ID : 9958596

Satkhira District, Bangladesh

2 September, 2025

Hindu man found dead amid ongoing persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh

Attack resulting in death

Attacked for Hindu identity

Case Summary

A Hindu man named Bijon Kumar Dey, aged 45, was found dead on a roadside in Chumuria village, Budhhata union, Assasuni upazila of Satkhira, Bangladesh. His body was discovered at around 5 AM on September 3, 2025, by locals who raised an alarm upon seeing it. Police were informed and arrived at the scene to recover the body, which was later sent to Satkhira Sadar Hospital morgue for post-mortem examination. Bijon Kumar Dey was a resident of nearby Paithali village and served as the President of the Durga Puja Celebration Committee. He was known for his outspoken stance in seeking justice for attacks on Hindus. Local suspicion pointed to Islamist radicals associated with the NCP as being responsible for the killing, though the exact cause of death was officially confirmed. Assasuni Police Station Officer-in-Charge Shamsul Arefin confirmed that investigations were underway. The killing raised fears in the community, given Bijon Kumar Dey’s visible role as a defender of Hindu rights in the region. This incident is a stark reminder of the atrocities Hindu minorities face in Islamic states like Bangladesh, which has only grown manifold following the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government on August 5, 2024. The instability had created an environment where extremist violence against the Hindu minority escalated. Reports indicated a surge in mob attacks targeting Hindu homes, many of which were set ablaze. Women were reportedly abducted and raped during these violent events. Additionally, multiple temples, including the historic Manasa Mata temple, were destroyed, further amplifying fear within the Hindu community.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

The primary category in this case is: Attack resulting in death. The subcategory in this case 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. This case has been added to the Hinduphobia Tracker because it illustrates the systemic and targeted violence faced by Hindus in Bangladesh during the ongoing campaign of religiously motivated persecution. Bijon Kumar Dey, a 45-year-old Hindu man, was found dead in Satkhira district, a region that has been at the epicentre of attacks against Hindus. His role as President of the Durga Puja Celebration Committee and his outspoken advocacy for justice in cases of anti-Hindu violence placed him in a vulnerable position, making his death emblematic of the climate of hostility directed at outspoken members of the Hindu community. Although the investigation did not confirm a direct religious motive, the broader circumstances of this case demand that it be classified as a hate crime. Bangladesh is witnessing a sustained campaign of ethnic cleansing against its Hindu minority, characterised by targeted assaults, killings, and intimidation aimed at erasing their cultural and religious presence. In such a context, the suspicious death of a visible Hindu leader cannot be reasonably separated from this overarching environment of religious animosity, even in the absence of explicit markers such as religious slogans or symbols at the crime scene. This classification is also necessary because it highlights the pattern of targeted violence against prominent Hindu voices who resist religious persecution. Recording this case as a hate crime ensures that such patterns are neither overlooked nor dismissed as isolated events, but rather recognised as part of the continuing religiously motivated campaign of terror against Hindus in Bangladesh. 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 markers 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.