Hindu man murdered for loving a Muslim girl, beaten and tortured by Muslim mob and army
Kishoreganj District, Bangladesh 
14 November, 2024
Case Summary
On November 16, a Hindu man named Hridoy Rabi Das was killed after being beaten and tortured by a Muslim mob and army officials in Bangladesh. Hridoy met the fatal end because he was in love with a Muslim girl and got into a relationship with her. On 15th November, the relatives of the Muslim girl apprehended Hridoy and his cousin and took them to the clubhouse of the Bhuiya market area. The duo was interrogated by 5-6 people. The Muslim men took away the mobile phone of Hridoy and his cousin and assaulted the two. After that, the victims were taken to the army camp via an autorickshaw and thrashed during the entirety of the journey. On Friday (15th November), the relatives of the Muslim girl apprehended Hridoy and his cousin and took them to the clubhouse of the Bhuiya market area. The duo was interrogated by 5-6 people. Hridoy and his cousin were kept in two separate rooms. The deceased was subjected to thrashings and torture, post which he was rushed to the hospital. Seeing his condition deteriorate, he was shifted to another hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. After his death, attempts were made by the law enforcement authorities to cover up the case and present the Hindu man’s killing as a case of ‘drug overdose.’ At the same time, Hridoy was portrayed as a ‘trafficker’ to rationalise his murder.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
The case has been added under the category- Men attacked for being associated with non-Hindu women, of the tracker and within this, the sub-category selected is- Killed by non-Hindu partner's family. When Hindu men are in a relationship with non-Hindu women, there are cases where the man is forced/pressured to convert his religion and upon his refusal to do so, the family of the non-Hindu partner murders the victim. Such relationships may be consensual with the religious identity of the non-Hindu woman known to the victim. Somewhere along the relationship, the non-Hindu woman and her family start forcing/pressurizing the Hindu man to convert. In some of these cases, the association could be non-consensual as well or, the religious identity of the non-Muslim woman could be previously unknown to the Hindu victim. In such cases, the Hindu man is first forced/pressurized to change his religion by the non-Hindu woman’s family. The pressure could involve threats. The trigger to murdering the Hindu man in these cases is his refusal to comply and change his religion under threat and/or force. In other cases that have been documented, it is also seen that the Hindu partner is murdered by the family of the non-Hindu woman simply for his relationship with the non-Hindu woman and by virtue of him following the Hindu faith and not the religion of the non-Hindu woman. In such cases, the relationship is consensual in most cases and the religion of both partners is known to the other. Often, in such cases, there is no direct force/pressure to convert either, however, the murder is a result of the Hindu man being in a relationship with the non-Hindu partner and not following her religion/following Hinduism specifically. Such cases are driven by specific religious motivations and against the religious identity of the victim and are therefore qualified as hate crimes. Here, the Hindu youth was killed by his Muslim girlfriend's relatives, along with army personnel, evidently because they did not approve of the girl's association with the boy, who was an adherent of Hinduism and not Islam. Second, this case should be included in this database because the victim is no longer alive and there is a precedent of such cases turning out to be hate crimes. In several cases where a Hindu man is in a relationship with a Muslim woman, the family of the Muslim woman ends up assaulting or murdering the man because of their disapproval of the relationship. In such cases, the relationship is consensual and the man and woman are with each other knowing each other’s identity fully well. Such cases are often called ‘honour killings’ and are seen in associations across religions, castes, economic strata etc. In several cases, the motivations are stated and clear. For example, in some cases, the perpetrators would clearly mention what their main motivation to commit the crime was – whether it was because the partner was economically weaker, from a different caste or religion. In some cases, however, the motives are not stated and/or reported. To determine whether such cases are religiously motivated hate crimes, in the absence of a clearly stated motive, one has to understand what could possibly be the main factor which the perpetrator's family would believe diminishes the family’s ‘honour’, leading to the crime. For the purpose of this tracker, we would only be looking at cases where the determining factor of the crime is religion – which is to say that the man belongs to the Hindu faith and the woman to a non-Hindu faith. In such cases, even if the motivation is not stated, it can be said that the determining factor or at least one of the main considerations leading to the crime would be the religious identity of the man, especially if the woman in the relationship is a Muslim. In the Islamic faith, a marriage is deemed illegitimate if the non-Muslim partner does not convert to Islam. For those who practice the faith, when their daughter marries a Hindu man without the man converting to Islam, the difference in religions followed becomes the main point of disapproval for the family of the Muslim woman. Because of the ingrained element of religious supremacy in Islam, even if the motivations are not explicit, it can reasonably be concluded as one of the determining factors of the assault or murder committed by the Muslim family against the Hindu man. For that reason, such crimes are considered hate crimes and form a part of this database.
Victim Details
Total Victim
2
Deceased
1
Gender
- Male 2
- Female 0
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 2
Age Group
- Minor 0
- Adult 0
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 2
Case Status
Unknown
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
From 5 to 10
Perpetrators Gender
unknown
Sources 
