20 Hindu homes looted, vandalised and set ablaze by Muslim mob over death of local leader amid large scale anti-Hindu violence in Bangladesh
Jessore District, Bangladesh 
21 May, 2025
Case Summary
On the night of May 22, 2025, multiple Hindu families were attacked, with their homes and shops looted and vandalised, in a coordinated and violent attack by a Muslim mob in Dahar Mashihati village of Jessore district, Bangladesh. The violence was triggered due to the killing of Tariqul Islam, a 50-year-old local leader associated with the Krishak Dal, who was killed in a minor dispute over the lease of a land. Tariqul Islam had a dispute with a man named Piltu Biswas, who happened to be a Hindu, over a piece of land that both parties wanted. Apparently, some unknown people shot Tariqul Islam and hacked him to death. This created an uproar in the Muslim community, who then retaliated against Hindus at large. As confirmed by multiple eyewitnesses and reports from the Bangladeshi daily Prothom Alo, a large group of Islamic extremists stormed the Hindu village, looting, vandalising, and setting fire to over 20 homes. Shops were also targeted, looted and burned. Personal property of Hindus was destroyed on a large scale, including vehicles, shops, cows, etc. Religious items such as harmoniums and dhols were damaged, and food meant for an ongoing religious celebration was spoiled. Innocent Hindus who gathered for the religious festival were also attacked, and religious festivities were violently disrupted. A total of 31 cows were reportedly stolen during the attacks. Victims were mostly of the Matua Hindu community. They described that over 150 Islamists attacked them inside their homes, after the initial assault by a small group. It was also reported that there was a delay in response by state authorities. Fire service personnel were also initially blocked from entering the village by local Islamists, and the police and military reinforcements arrived only after nearly two hours of destruction. During this window, the Muslim mob operated with complete impunity. Victim testimonies provide an insight into the scale and cruelty of the violence. Panna Biswas recounted the total loss of her household, which included valuables such as gold, passport documents, medicine prescriptions, a refrigerator, a television, and cash amounting to 1.5 lakh taka. Another survivor, Smriti Biswas, shared that she was beaten and physically assaulted after looters ransacked her home for gold and money. A 25-year-old Hindu man named Sagar Biswas was kidnapped by the Islamists. It was also reported that all the male members of the community fled the village due to fear of death. This incident happened amid the large-scale Hindu persecution that intensified after the ouster of Sheikh Hasina on August 5, 2024, with at least 205 attacks on Hindu temples, shops, and businesses reported within just three days of Dhaka’s fall. 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. ISKCON leader Chinmoy Krishna Das Prabhu and his aides have been targeted, while attempts to ban ISKCON and suppress Hindu protests through sedition charges highlight systematic persecution under Muhammad Yunus’s interim government.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category of: - Attack not resulting in death. Within it, the sub-category selected is: - Communal clash / attack. Communal clash is a form of collective violence that involves clashes between groups belonging to different religious identities. For a communal clash between Hindus and non-Hindus to qualify as a religiously motivated hate crime, the trigger of the violence itself would have to be anti-Hindu in essence. For example, if there is a Hindu religious procession that comes under attack from a non-Hindu mob and after the initial attack, Hindus retaliate in self-defence, leading to a communal clash between the two religious communities. While at a later stage, both communities are involved in the clash/violence, the initial trigger of the violence was by the non-Hindu mob against the Hindus and therefore, it could safely be termed as an anti-Hindu violence. Further, the trigger would also have to be religiously motivated. In the cited example, the attack by the non-Hindu mob was against religious processions and therefore, can be concluded to be religiously motivated. In some cases, the trigger may be non-religious, however, it develops into religious violence against Hindus at a later stage. In such cases too, the foundational animosity towards Hindus becomes the motivating factor of the crime and therefore, it would be classified as a religiously motivated hate crime against Hindus under this category. The other sub-category relevant 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. The third sub-category selected is: - Attack against Hindu devotees. Hindu devotees are a few of the easiest targets of religiously motivated hate crimes because during the festival/procession/puja etc, for non-Hindus it is easy to profile their victims on the basis of religion. Hindu devotees come under attack on several occasions by individual non-Hindus or mobs of non-Hindus owing to their animosity against Hinduism, its symbols and tradition/practices. There are several instances of Hindu devotees being attacked while they worship in temples or temporary religious structures, during religious processions, doing bhajan/kirtan/puja in their own homes, in the residential society etc. These attacks are perpetrated by non-Hindus primarily because of their animosity towards Hindus and their faith. In some cases, the trigger for the violence may be non-religious, however, there are two elements that make these hate crimes. First, the Hindus who come under attack are attacked violently while indulging in religious activity. Whether they are in a place of worship or not is immaterial to the crime. When individuals are attacked while indulging in religious practices, the attack in itself is a hindrance to their freedom to practice religion and therefore constitutes a hate crime. Secondly, religious supremacist doctrines and ideologies deem religious practices of Hindus to be offensive ab initio since they are considered “sinful” by these ideologies, worthy to be annihilated by force or coercion. Driven by these religious supremacist ideologies and doctrines, the attacks against Hindu devotees stem from intrinsic animosity towards Hinduism. In some cases, the trigger for the violence may be non-religious, however, it develops into a religiously motivated crime during the course of the violence. Since these attacks stem from animosity towards Hindus and Hinduism, they are considered religiously motivated hate crimes under this category. The fourth category selected here is- Attacked to induce migration from non-Hindu dominated area. There have been cases where the Hindus living in an area, often with a majority dwelling belonging to non-Hindus or those harbouring animosity towards the Hindu faith, the Hindu residents experience threats and violence. The violence is employed with the aim of making the Hindus leave the area and relocate, so the area could be turned into an exclusive ghetto for adherents of the non-Hindu faith or those who harbor animosity towards the Hindu faith. In several cases, the aim of exodus is explicit. However, in several cases, the demand for exodus of Hindu residents is not explicit, however, violence by non-Hindu residents leaves the Hindu residents no option but to leave the area, thereby, turning the area into an exclusive ghetto of non-Hindu residents. In such cases, there are instances violence against the Hindu residents explicitly. For example, in the Hauz Qazi case of 2019, the Muslim residents claimed that mob violence against the Hindu residents had been triggered by a parking dispute. However, the violence did turn religious with a temple being desecrated and was directed specifically against the Hindu residents. The Hindu residents of the area were clear that the violence was religiously motivated and one of the motives was to affect an exodus of the Hindu residents. In such cases, even though the perpetrators have not explicitly expressed the aim of affecting exodus, the given circumstances and violence and precedent point to the intention of exodus and therefore would be categorized under this sub-category. Such crimes are religiously motivated and therefore are hate crimes. This case has been included in the tracker based on the unidirectional violence against the Hindu minority in Bangladesh by Islamists. The cause of the incident was that a Muslim man, Tariqul Islam, was murdered by some unidentified men. He apparently had a dispute with someone named Piltu Biswas, who is Hindu. Even though the police had not investigated the case and the culprit was still not found, the Muslim mob still chose to target and blame the entire Hindu community for the murder. Hindus were indiscriminately targeted, their shops looted and burned, and their homes were vandalised and destroyed. This form of collective punishment is symbolic of a deep-rooted religious animosity, where the Hindu identity of the victims became the sole basis for their persecution. This targeted attack must be understood as more than spontaneous mob violence. It is a reflection of the broader climate of anti-Hindu hatred that is prevalent in Bangladesh. This happens due to the doctrinal animosity that exists in Islam against Non-Muslims, where the lives of non-Muslims are considered inferior to those of Muslims. This was not just an attack, it was also a statement that any dispute between Hindus and Muslims will be met with disproportionate violence by the Muslims against the whole community. Moreover, the silence and inaction of law enforcement during the most crucial hours of the attack further exposed the institutional apathy towards the suffering of the Hindu minority. This case highlights the ongoing hatred, intolerance, violence, and bigotry faced by the Hindus in Bangladesh at the hands of the majority Muslim population. The level of hostility and religious intolerance against Hindus in Bangladesh continues to escalate, with such abductions and attacks becoming alarmingly frequent, especially since the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government on August 5, 2024. Since then, 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.
Case Status
Unknown
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
Unknown
Perpetrators Gender
unknown
Sources 
