Hindu footballers in Bangladesh forced to recite Quranic verses before match
Dhaka District, Bangladesh 
9 June, 2025
Case Summary
Hindu footballers of the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) were made to recite Quranic verses. This incident occurred before the football match between Bangladesh and Singapore, where Hindu players were compelled to recite verses from the Quran. The BFF published a video of this recitation on their Facebook handle by presenting it in a positive light. Among the Hindu team members involved were goalkeeper Mitul Marma, defender Tapu Barman, and Canada-based midfielder Shamit Shome, all of whom were made to recite the verses. The footage showed players reciting Surah Al-Fatiha of the Quran, including Hindu defender Tapu Barman, who was just moving his lips in compliance. At the end of the recitation, everyone said “Ameen.” The BFF had made the Quran recitation a mandatory ritual for the national football team before matches. Although the Hindu players did not know the Quranic verses, they were not allowed to object to them and were compelled to move their lips in compliance. This incident is one of the several incidents of the continued persecution and oppression of Hindus in Bangladesh, which has only increased manifold since the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government on August 5, 2024. After her violent ouster, Bangladesh 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. The Islamist mobs have attacked Hindu homes, burned them to the ground, and abducted women in a horrific descent into anarchy. Several temples have been destroyed in various parts of the Islamic country in a major crackdown on Hindus. 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. Muslim mob attacks have increased in Bangladesh, for example, on 22nd May 2025, a Muslim mob carried out arson attacks selectively on Hindu homes in Dahar Mashihati village in Abhaynagar upazila in Jessore district of Bangladesh. Even ISKCON leader Chinmoy Krishna Das Prabhu and his aides have been targeted, and attempts have been made to ban ISKCON and suppress Hindu protests through sedition charges. These arbitrary actions point to a systematic pattern of persecution under Muhammad Yunus’s interim government.
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case has been added to the tracker under the primary category- Predatory Proselytisation. Within this, the subcategory selected is- Harassment, threats, coercion for conversion. Harassment covers a wide range of behaviours of an offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behaviour that demeans, humiliates, and intimidates a person, including threats and coercion. Harassment and threats, in this case, find their root on discriminatory grounds which has the effect of nullifying a person’s rights or infringing upon his freedom to exercise his right specifically owing to the victim’s religious identity. Verbal and physical threats and psychological or physical harassment are often used against Hindu victims because they choose to practice their professed religion. Religious harassment also includes forced and involuntary conversions by harassment, threats or coercion. Coercion includes intimidatory tactics like force-feeding a Hindu victim beef to convert to another religion, forceful circumcision etc. In several cases documented, non-Hindu perpetrators or those who harbour specific animosity towards Hinduism, harass victims simply based on their religious identity. Such cases often also include harassment to ensure the Hindu victim abandons his/her professed religion and adopts the religion of the perpetrator. Such cases where Hindu victims are harassed to convert to the perpetrator’s religion are rooted in animosity towards the victim’s religious identity and are therefore documented as religiously motivated hate crimes. Another primary category selected is- Attack not resulting in death. Within this, 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, Hindu footballers were compelled by the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) to recite Quranic verses before matches, with no option to opt out. This constitutes religious coercion and directly undermines the religious rights of Hindu players. By institutionalising Islamic prayer as a mandatory pre-match ritual, the BFF effectively sends the message that only one religious tradition is respected within the national team environment. This incident constitutes predatory proselytisation because it involves coercive religious imposition in an institutional setting where Hindu players were compelled to participate in Islamic rituals—specifically, the recitation of Quranic verses—without consent or the freedom to opt out. The Bangladesh Football Federation’s enforcement of this practice exploits the players’ vulnerable position within a national team, using psychological pressure and systemic authority to override their religious autonomy. Such coercion is not neutral but rooted in a broader pattern of religious dominance, aiming to suppress Hindu identity and normalise Muslim supremacy. Such a practice attacks the Hindu identity of the players, whose religious beliefs and practices are distinct from Islam. By forcing them to comply, the BFF not only disregards their individual rights but also imposes Islamic supremacy in a sporting space. This is not merely a matter of ritual—it amounts to the symbolic erasure of Hindu identity, signalling that Hinduism is unwelcome or inferior. This incident should be seen as part of a broader pattern of Hindu persecution in Bangladesh. Over the years, Hindus in the country have faced discrimination, violence, and the desecration of their places of worship. The forced participation in Islamic rituals is another manifestation of systemic pressure on Hindus to assimilate or remain invisible within public and institutional spaces in Bangladesh. When Islamic practices are imposed by authority, it not only violates the religious rights of Hindu individuals but also signals to the wider Hindu community that Hindu identity is not respected or protected.
Victim Details
Total Victim
3
Deceased
0
Gender
- Male 3
- Female 0
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 0
- Unknown 3
Age Group
- Minor 0
- Adult 0
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 3
Case Status
Unknown
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
State and Establishment
Perpetrators Range
Unknown
Perpetrators Gender
unknown
Sources 
