Hindu businessman killed while protecting minor boy from Muslim man amid rising anti-Hindu violence in Bangladesh

Case ID : d327171 | Location : Gazipur District, Bangladesh | Date of Incident : Fri, 16 January, 2026

Case ID : d327171

Gazipur District, Bangladesh

16 January, 2026

Hindu businessman killed while protecting minor boy from Muslim man amid rising anti-Hindu violence in Bangladesh

Attack resulting in death

Attacked for opposing radicals or trying to save victim

Attacked for Hindu identity

Case Summary

In the Gazipur district of Bangladesh, a Hindu businessman named Liton Chandra Ghosh (55), alias Kali, was brutally assaulted and beaten to death by a Muslim man named Masoom Mia and his family. The victim was killed while he was attempting to protect his minor Hindu employee, Ananta Das (17), from a violent assault by Masoom Mia. According to reports, the victim, Liton Chandra Ghosh, was the owner of ‘Baishakhi Sweetmeat and Hotel’ located on Baranagar Road adjacent to the Kaliganj municipality. On the morning of 17 January 2026, around 11 a.m., the accused entered the shop owned by the victim and got into an argument with the minor Hindu boy, Ananta Das (17), a shop employee, over a trivial matter. The verbal confrontation quickly escalated into physical violence inside the shop. The situation escalated further when Masoom Mia's parents, Mohammad Swapan Mia and Majida Khatun, arrived at the scene and intervened. Rather than stopping the accused, they joined the attack, further intensifying the assault. When Liton Chandra Ghosh tried to intervene and save his minor employee, the Muslim family became enraged and turned on him. According to police, during the assault, Ghosh was struck forcefully on the head with a shovel, sustaining fatal injuries that led to his death at the spot. The loss of an innocent shopkeeper over a minor dispute sent shockwaves through the area. The killing triggered widespread anger among local residents, who apprehended Masum Mia and his parents at the scene and handed them over to the police. Kaliganj Police Station Officer-in-Charge Mohammad Zakir Hussain confirmed the incident and stated that all three accused are in police custody. As of the date of writing this report, the legal proceedings were ongoing. A fresh wave of anti-Hindu violence prevailed across Bangladesh following the death of Sharif Osman Bin Hadi. This escalation occurred against the backdrop of ongoing anti-Hindu violence that had persisted since the ouster of the Sheikh Hasina government in August 2024, during which Hindu homes, temples, and religious spaces were repeatedly attacked, and the Hindu community faced intimidation, arson, and mob attacks. In the aftermath of Hadi’s death, Hindu homes were selectively targeted and set ablaze in multiple localities by Muslim mobs, forcing families to flee and rendering many homeless. The violence was not sporadic but patterned, with Muslim mobs targeting Hindu neighbourhoods, properties, and religious symbols with impunity. One of the many victims of this wave of violence was a Hindu man named Dipu Chandra Das, who was brutally lynched by a Muslim mob over false allegations of blasphemy. Such targeting of innocent Hindus over fabricated charges illustrated the vulnerability of the Hindu minority under conditions of rising communal hostility. Posters and written materials calling for the extermination of Hindus were displayed in public spaces, signalling an alarming normalisation of genocidal rhetoric. Combined with acts of physical violence, arson, and vandalism, these developments demonstrated a coordinated campaign designed to terrorise the Hindu community and assert Islamic dominance. Notably, Sharif Osman Bin Hadi was a Muslim political activist and student leader known for his anti-Hindu and anti-India stance. He was actively involved in the political unrest that followed the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government and was killed in Dhaka in December 2025 during clashes, after which Hindus were blamed and subsequently targeted.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category of - Attack resulting in death. Within it, the 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, cases where the attack led to the death of the Hindu victim/s would be documented. The other 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, cases where the attack led to the death of the Hindu victim/s would be documented. In this case, a Hindu man, Liton Chandra Ghosh, was brutally assaulted and beaten to death by the Muslim accused, Masoom Mia, and his family. The victim was struck on his head with a shovel while trying to protect a minor Hindu employee at his shop, who was also violently attacked by the same perpetrators. The violence was so severe that it resulted in Ghosh’s death on the spot, and the minor employee also suffered injuries during the assault. While some may argue that the case details do not explicitly state a religious motive, the broader context of anti-Hindu persecution in Bangladesh remains relevant for classification. During periods of sustained violence against Hindus based on religious identity, the Hinduphobia Tracker applies a contextual presumption that attacks on Hindu victims are likely faith-targeted, even when the immediate report does not record a specific religious marker. In such periods, the normalisation of religious hostility and the dehumanisation of minorities can contribute to crimes against them without perpetrators openly stating a motive. For the purpose of documenting the 2024 to 2026 ethnic cleansing of Hindus in Bangladesh and the subsequent persecution after the death of Sharif Osman Hadi, the Hinduphobia Tracker records such incidents as likely religiously motivated at the point of entry. If any case is later established through credible investigation or court findings to stem from motivations other than religious hostility, it will be revised or removed from the hate crime database. In this case, the extreme brutality of the killing over a trivial matter is consistent with the severity observed in other reported attacks on Hindu victims by members of Muslim community, and therefore supports the contextual classification of likely religious hostility, absent contrary evidence. Furthermore, such a disproportionate violence over trivial matters to a minor highlights the underlying animosity the members of the Muslim community hold against Hindus. These actions reflect a dangerous mindset of religious supremacy that demands dominance and submission through violence. In such cases, even minor, non-religious provocations are met with aggressive retaliation when the victim is Hindu, revealing an alarming pattern of identity-driven hostility that defines such hate crimes. In this case, too, the victim was killed simply because he attempted to save his minor employee from violence. This pattern of disproportionate retaliation, driven by identity-based hostility, is what qualifies the incident as a hate crime. This violent overreach stems from an Islamic supremacist ideology within Muslim extremist circles, which views Hindus as socially and religiously inferior. This toxic belief breeds contempt and aggression, especially when Hindus resist submission or refuse to yield in disputes. The readiness to use violence under the pretext of minor issues exposes the continuing threat Hindu communities face, as these incidents are not isolated or spontaneous but part of an ongoing pattern of religiously motivated violence. The case is documented as likely involving faith targeting, given the victim’s identity and the surrounding pattern of persecution, while remaining open to revision if new facts emerge. Notably, this murder occurred just weeks after a Hindu man, Dipu Chandra Das, was killed by a mob in Bhaluka town, Bangladesh, on 18 December 2025, following a false blasphemy allegation. When viewed alongside such incidents, the present case is recorded as part of a broader cycle of violence affecting Hindus, reinforcing the contextual presumption applied in this period. Therefore, this case is being recorded in the hate crime database of the Hinduphobia Tracker.