Hindu businessman charged with blasphemy in Bangladesh

Case ID : d1fb780 | Location : Shariatpur, Dhaka District, Bangladesh | Date of Incident : Sat, 27 April, 2024

Case ID : d1fb780

Shariatpur, Dhaka District, Bangladesh

27 April, 2024

Hindu businessman charged with blasphemy in Bangladesh

Attack not resulting in death

Attacked over 'Blasphemy'

Case Summary

On April 28, Sanjoy Rakhit, a Hindu businessman, was arrested in Shariatpur, Dhaka Division, Bangladesh, for allegedly hurting the religious sentiments of the Muslim community by sharing a song about 18th-century Bengali mystic Lalon Fakir on Facebook. Rakhit posted lyrics questioning religious practices related to circumcision, taken from a 2016 song by Kartik Das Baul. He was arrested under Section 54 of The Code of Criminal Procedure, which allows for arrest without a warrant, and charged with hurting religious sentiments. Rakhit’s arrest followed unrest created by a Muslim mob outside his home. Vedarganj Police Station’s Officer-in-Charge, Mintu Mandal, confirmed the arrest for insulting Islamic rules. Shariatpur SP Mahbubul Alam explained that the arrest was made to prevent chaos, with police maintaining vigilance to avoid further unrest. Rakhit was sent to Sariatpur district jail and was granted bail by a local court on April 29.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

Blasphemy essentially refers to the desecration of anything which is held sacred/holy to a group of people. However, for religious supremacist groups, the elements of ‘blasphemy’ are ever-changing, shifting and expanding – leading to infringement on the rights of other religious groups, freedom of speech and expression, threats and even physical violence. There are instances where blasphemy is also used as a dog whistle to target Hindus owing to intrinsic animosity towards Hinduism. There are several instances where stating truths as mentioned in the non-Hindu doctrine itself has led to unmitigated violence against Hindus. There have also been instances where non-Hindus have themselves created a ‘blasphemous’ situation, like placing a Quran in a temple, to use it as an excuse to attack Hindus. Essentially, Blasphemy charges are often made up and/or are used to shut down any form of criticism of non-Hindu faiths and as a tool to target Hindus. Any physical violence over Blasphemy charges against Hindus are foundationally based on animosity for Hindus and their faith owing to religious supremacist ideologies, therefore, such attacks would be documented as religious motivated hate crimes under this category.