Hindu father-son duo violently beaten over 'blasphemy' by Muslim mob in Bangladesh, police arrest victims

Case ID : e274953 | Location : Lalmonirhat District, Bangladesh | Date of Incident : Sat, 21 June, 2025

Case ID : e274953

Lalmonirhat District, Bangladesh

21 June, 2025

Hindu father-son duo violently beaten over 'blasphemy' by Muslim mob in Bangladesh, police arrest victims

Attack not resulting in death

Attacked over 'Blasphemy'

Attacked for Hindu identity

Case Summary

In Lalmonirhat Sadar Upazila, Bangladesh, a Hindu father and son who ran a barber shop were violently assaulted and lynched by a Muslim mob following accusations of blasphemy. The incident took place at their salon located at the Hanif Pagla intersection in Ward No. 9. The salon was owned by a Hindu man named Paresh Chandra Shil (69) and his son Bishnu Chandra Shil (35). According to local reports, a Muslim man named Nazmul Islam claimed that Paresh Chandra made insulting remarks about Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), Hazrat Ayesha (RA), and the Black Stone when he visited the salon for a haircut. He further claimed that Paresh said, "How many marriages did your prophet have? Your prophet's last wife was very young! Why are you keeping a beard now? You will keep a beard in your old age." Another Muslim teenager also claimed that similar comments had been made a month earlier. Following these accusations, a Muslim mob of about 100 people gathered outside the salon. The Muslim mob violently assaulted the Hindu father-son duo, the video of which went viral on social media. In the video, the extremists could be seen tearing the vest of 69-year-old Paresh Chandra Shil and repeatedly throwing punches and blows at him. They also attacked his son, Bishnu Chandra Shil, when he tried to save his father. Both Paresh Chandra and his son were arrested by the police based on allegations of ‘blasphemy.’ However, no legal action was taken against those involved in the mob violence. Furthermore, the Muslim mob, now going in thousands, surrounded the police station where the accused were held, demanding strict action. In response to the rapidly deteriorating situation, army personnel were deployed to assist local law enforcement. As of the date of writing this report, a case was registered against the Hindu father-son duo, and the investigation was ongoing as to whether the blasphemy allegations were genuine or fabricated to incite communal unrest. This incident reflects a troubling and recurring pattern across Bangladesh, where blasphemy accusations, often unverified or entirely fabricated, are weaponised to target Hindu minorities. Such cases are frequently followed by orchestrated campaigns of intimidation, social exclusion, and, in some instances, outright violence. The use of blasphemy as a tool for communal targeting not only endangers individual lives but also undermines the safety and rights of entire minority communities. This incident is one of the several incidents of the continued persecution 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 has 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 of: - Attack not resulting in death. Within it, the sub-category selected is: - Attacked over 'Blasphemy'. 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. The other sub-category relevant here 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. This case has been added to the tracker because of the distinct religious marker present here. The Hindu father and son duo were brutally assaulted by a Muslim mob in Bangladesh. This attack stemmed from unverified allegations of blasphemy. The accusations themselves appear to be merely a pretext to incite communal violence and assert Islamic dominance over a vulnerable Hindu minority. This pattern of targeting Hindus under the guise of “hurting religious sentiments” is disturbingly common in Bangladesh. As seen in several cases, this law is often used as a tool of oppression and violence, leading to false accusations, mob justice, and social ostracisation of Hindus. This law, which is liberally used in Muslim-majority countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh to attack minority Hindus residing there, has become increasingly common in India too, where bloodthirsty Islamists often twist and use these laws to settle their scores with Hindus. The misuse of blasphemy laws against Hindus is often motivated by religious prejudice. Hindus are targeted because of their religious identity. From Kanpur in India’s northern plains to the southern metropolis of Bengaluru, from Kolkata in the east to Hyderabad in the south, protests in the name of blasphemy have erupted in almost every corner of the country as Islamists took to the streets running amok and shouting “Sar Tan Se Juda” chants over the perceived belief of blasphemy against the Prophet. Islamists use this tactic to settle personal scores with Hindu and Christian families by levelling fabricated charges of blasphemy against them, which causes outrage and paints a target behind them. The underlying hatred and animosity toward non-Muslims, especially Hindus, drive these false blasphemy accusations as a means to subjugate and victimise them. Even in this case, as in many others, no due process was followed, no evidence was examined, no investigation was done, yet the father and son were arrested, and the streets were filled with a mob ready to lynch them. The Muslim mob’s verdict replaced the rule of law. The disproportionate targeting of the Hindus under these laws was not accidental but driven by deep-rooted religious prejudice, with blasphemy allegations serving as a tool of social control and communal suppression. Beyond religious animosity, it is important to recognise that blasphemy charges in such contexts are often weaponised to eliminate economic competition as well. In a country like Bangladesh, where the economy is on a downward trend and there is increased competition over limited resources, Hindus frequently become the first victims. Their religious identity makes them easy targets in an increasingly intolerant socio-economic landscape. This reflects the severe difficulties faced by Hindus trying to conduct business in Muslim-majority societies like Bangladesh, where religious hostility is frequently intertwined with economic suppression. Such incidents are not isolated but occur within a broader context of systematic discrimination and violence against Hindus in Bangladesh. The use of blasphemy allegations to incite mob violence and demand extreme punishments disproportionately affects religious minorities, particularly Hindus, and serves to intimidate and suppress them and their faith. What makes this case especially egregious is the blatant administrative bias displayed by the authorities. Despite viral video evidence clearly showing the mob violently beating the elderly Hindu man and his son, no legal action was taken against the attackers. Instead, the victims themselves were arrested, based solely on the mob’s unverified claims. This signals not only a failure of justice but also a deep institutional prejudice against Hindus in Bangladesh. In the Muslim-majority nation, law enforcement and local administration often capitulate to the pressure of Islamist mobs, prioritising appeasement over justice. There is a consistent pattern of denying protection to Hindus, and even criminalising them when they are the victims. Such state-backed inaction emboldens radical elements and effectively gives them a free pass to target Hindu minorities with impunity. This case, therefore, is not an isolated episode but part of a deeply entrenched pattern of religiously motivated hate and persecution of the Hindu community in Bangladesh. Therefore, this case is being added to the hate crime database.