Hindu woman gang-raped by Muslim men in Bangladesh amidst ongoing religious persecution of Hindus

Case ID : d327911 | Location : Barisal Division, Bangladesh | Date of Incident : Sat, 21 February, 2026

Case ID : d327911

Barisal Division, Bangladesh

21 February, 2026

Hindu woman gang-raped by Muslim men in Bangladesh amidst ongoing religious persecution of Hindus

Attack not resulting in death

Attacked for Hindu identity

Case Summary

In Bhola Upazila of the Barisal District in Barisal Division in Bangladesh, a 25-year-old disabled Hindu woman was abducted and gang-raped by three Muslim men, namely Rakib, Sohail, and Russell. This happened while the woman was returning from a Hindu kirtan event organised at a temple. According to media reports, this incident occurred on 22 February 2026. The woman had gone out to attend a kirtan; while returning home, she was intercepted by the three accused, who abducted her and gang-raped her brutally in a garden. Locals found the victim in critical condition. She was taken to the hospital. Lying helpless on a hospital bed, the woman said that the accused kicked her in the stomach and choked her, along with raping her. She identified the accused as Rakib, Sohail, and Russell. However, despite the identification of the accused in the First Information Report, the police had not arrested them immediately. Tajmuddin Police Station in-charge Abdus Salam said a case would be filed as soon as the victim's condition improves. A search was underway to arrest the perpetrators. The incident triggered outrage and fear among members of the local Hindu community, with many demanding swift action and justice. Community leaders called for a thorough investigation, immediate arrest of the perpetrators, and enhanced security measures to protect minority communities. A fresh wave of anti-Hindu violence followed the 13th National Parliamentary Election 2026 in Bangladesh, reinforcing a recurring pattern of post-poll violence targeting Hindu minorities. Within days of the announcement of results, Hindu families in districts such as Noakhali, Rangpur, Nilphamari, Sylhet, Thakurgaon, and Dinajpur reported coordinated attacks involving arson, looting, assault, and vandalism of temples and homes. In several instances, Hindu homes were selectively targeted, looted, and families were threatened with displacement. This escalation of violence against Hindus in Bangladesh unfolded in three distinct phases: first, following the ouster of Sheikh Hasina’s government in August 2024; second, after the death of Sharif Osman Bin Hadi in December 2025; and third, in the immediate aftermath of the 13th National Parliamentary Election 2026. This electoral violence unfolded against the broader backdrop of sustained anti-Hindu hostility that had persisted since the ouster of the Sheikh Hasina government in August 2024. During that period, multiple reports documented attacks on Hindu homes, temples, and religious institutions, alongside intimidation campaigns, arson, and mob assaults targeting minority neighbourhoods. The Hinduphobia tracker has recorded 336 such incidents against the Hindu minority, underscoring the scale and persistence of anti-Hindu violence during this period. A further escalation occurred following the death of Sharif Osman Bin Hadi, a Muslim political activist and student leader known for his anti-Hindu and anti-India rhetoric. Hadi had been involved in political unrest after the fall of the Hasina government and was killed in Dhaka on 18 December 2025 during clashes. In the aftermath of his death, Hindu communities were blamed and subsequently targeted in retaliatory violence. Hindu homes were selectively set ablaze in multiple localities, forcing families to flee and leaving many displaced. The attacks appeared patterned rather than sporadic, with Muslim mobs focusing on Hindu neighbourhoods, properties, and religious symbols. Among the victims was Dipu Chandra Das, who was lynched to death and his body was set ablaze by a Muslim mob over false blasphemy allegations. The Hinduphobia tracker documented 51 incidents of anti-Hindu violence in the period following Hadi’s death alone. Such incidents underscore the vulnerability of the Hindu minority amid rising communal hostility and the weaponisation of religious accusations. Reports further indicated that posters and written materials calling for the extermination of Hindus were displayed in public spaces, signalling an alarming normalisation of genocidal rhetoric. When combined with acts of arson, vandalism, assault, and targeted intimidation, these developments suggest a coordinated environment of hostility aimed at terrorising the Hindu community and reinforcing majoritarian dominance.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case is added to the Hinduphobia Tracker under the primary category- Attack not resulting in death. The subcategory 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. In this case, a 25-year-old disabled Hindu woman was abducted and gang-raped by three Muslim men, namely Rakib, Sohail, and Russell, while returning from a Hindu kirtan event at a temple in Bangladesh. The victim was brutally assaulted, kicked in the stomach, and choked during the attack in a garden on 22 February 2026. In the prevailing environment of anti-Hindu hostility in Bangladesh, this incident aligns with the wider pattern of violence affecting Hindus. 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 13th National Parliamentary Election 2026 and 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 gang rape and assault is consistent with the severity observed in other reported attacks on Hindu victims during this period and therefore supports the contextual classification of likely religious hostility, absent contrary evidence. 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 attack occurred just weeks after a Hindu man, Dipu Chandra Das, was killed, and his body was set ablaze by a Muslim 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 added to the hate crime database of the tracker.