Hindu temple demolished, idols desecrated by Bangladesh government after Muslim mob issues ultimatum to remove it
Dhaka, Dhaka District, Bangladesh 
25 June, 2025
Case Summary
In Khilkhet, Dhaka, a Hindu temple known as the Sri Sri Durga Mandir was demolished by the Bangladesh Railway administration, two days after a large Muslim mob vandalised it and threatened to remove it. Hinduphobia Tracker reported that on the night of June 24, a Muslim mob had attacked the temple and given an ultimatum demanding that the temple be removed within 12 hours. The mob used abusive language, threatened the Hindu devotees with violence, and warned of demolition if the temple was not vacated. Local Hindu leaders immediately approached Khilkhet police, but despite initial assurances, no protective action was taken. Instead, Ashikur Rahman, Inspector of Khilkhet Police Station, said, "You understand the country's situation. The rampage happening in the name of the 'Tauhidi Janata' (Islamists mob or Extremist population) cannot be stopped by the police. Because then we would be tagged as allies of fascism. So, we are trying to resolve the matter through persuasion.". Two days later, the administration proceeded to demolish the temple without giving the Hindu community time to relocate the temple and its idols or allowing the Rath Yatra to conclude before any action. The demolition order was issued by Md. Nasir Uddin Mahmud, Deputy Commissioner and Divisional Estate Officer of Bangladesh Railway’s Dhaka Division. The demolition was carried out in the presence of a large contingent of army and police personnel, using bulldozers, while Hindu devotees broke down in tears and attempted to resist the demolition. The temple was an important site of Hindu worship in the area for over fifty years. Local Hindus reported that the temple had long existed with the full knowledge of the authorities and that the land had been donated by the Railway Department decades ago. Nevertheless, the administration justified the demolition by saying that the land was encroached on. This case serves as a stark reminder 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 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 on Hindu religious representations. Within this, the subcategory selected is- Attack on Temples. In Hinduism, a temple is the abode of the Deity. The Deity in the Temple is consecrated, thereby, making it a real, breathing entity. Hindus believe that not just the Deity but the temple premises itself are sacred to Hindus since Hindus hold the faith that the entire Temple space is an amalgamation of the divine energy of the deity. Given the central significance of Temples in Hindu Dharma, any attack against a Hindu Temple or its peripheral premises is an attack on the faith itself and is born out of animosity towards the faith, of which, the Temple is a central tenet. Any manner of attack against a Temple and/or its premises would therefore be considered a religiously motivated hate crime. The other sub-category relevant here is: - Desecration of Hindu religious symbols. Icons and symbols or a religious representation of a spiritual ideal are widely revered in Hinduism. Iconography is of vital significance in the Hindu milieu. It helps connect people’s spiritual beliefs with the real world. Iconography within the Hindu faith takes several shapes and forms. Murtis are of most significance to Hindus, to which daily rituals, prayers and offerings are done. Besides the murtis, there are several other symbols which have deep significance in the Hindu faith – the Om and Swastika for example. Since these Hindu religious symbols hold paramount importance in Hinduism, any desecration of symbols, icons, murtis, religious representations and manifestations, is driven by animosity towards the faith itself which manifests itself through these murtis, icons and symbols. Therefore, any desecration of these Hindu religious symbols and representations is considered religiously motivated hate crimes under this category. The second primary category relevant here is: - Restriction/ban on Hindu practices. Within it, the sub-category selected here is: - Administration restricting religious practice. In several cases, it is seen that the administration/state disallows a religious practice owing to prejudicial orders and concerns, targeted specifically against the Hindu community. Such restriction/prohibition would be considered documented as a hate crime because the orders are often a result of pressure by groups that harbour animosity towards Hinduism and Hindus. Often, the restriction by the authorities is driven by bias, hostility, or prejudice against the specific community being stopped from holding a religious practice, by pressure groups that harbour animosity towards Hindus, intrinsic to their faith. Since practices are intrinsic to the faith of the Hindus, such prejudicial restriction is considered a curtailing of the fundamental rights of the Hindu community. In several cases, for example, the authorities ban a Hindu religious practice due to pressure from groups opposed to the religion. In other instances the prohibition is selectively enforced against one religious group (Hindus) while others are allowed to proceed. There are still other cases where the authorities preemptively restrict a religious practice by Hindus because those who hold animosity towards Hindus may get “provoked” leading to them being violent, thereby assuaging the sentiments of those who hold animosity towards Hindus by curtailing the religious rights of Hindus. Such acts and orders are prejudiced, indicating discriminatory motives owing to the capitulation to groups that harbour animosity towards Hindus and therefore, would be categorized as a religiously motivated hate crime since the original pressure leading to the order itself is a result of hatred/bias/prejudice/religious hate against Hindus. The other sub-category relevant here is: - Restriction on expression of Hindu identity. An example of the state-affected prejudicial and targeted orders against the Hindu community would be a government denying the right of a Hindu or a group of Hindus to hold a religious procession owing to the animosity of non-Hindu groups. Denial of the religious right of the Hindus to assuage the non-Hindu group which harbours animosity to a point where it could lead to violence against Hindus is not only a failure of law and order but is a prejudicial order against Hindus, denying them their fundamental rights to express their religious identity. An example of a hate crime against Hindus by a non-Hindu would be a non-Hindu institution forcing its Hindu employees to abandon religious symbols that a Hindu would wear as an expression of faith owing to inherent prejudice against the faith professed by the victim or a non-Hindu group of people restricting a Hindu group from constructing a place of worship simply because the demography of the area in which the temple is being built is dominated by non-Hindus. Such actions are driven by religious animosity and/or prejudice against Hindus and their faith and would therefore be categorised as a hate crime. The removal of Sheikh Hasina from power in Bangladesh on August 5, 2024, escalated the persecution and marginalisation of the Hindu minority in the predominantly Islamic nation, intensifying what can be described as a silent genocide. Since her exile, Muslim radicals have carried out unchecked atrocities against Hindus, including physical violence, the destruction of temples and religious symbols, and the systematic displacement of Hindus from their ancestral lands. Hundreds of attacks on Hindu temples, shops, and businesses have been recorded following Sheikh Hasina's removal as Prime Minister. Many Hindus have been brutally murdered or injured in Muslim mob attacks. Amid the ongoing wave of anti-Hindu actions, disturbing reports have surfaced that the Bangladesh government itself was involved in demolishing a Hindu temple and desecrating the sacred idols housed within it. This act goes beyond mere administrative overreach—it reflects a blatant and institutionalised form of religious prejudice, aimed at undermining the sanctity of Hindu worship and instilling fear within the already vulnerable Hindu minority community. The deliberate targeting of religious symbols and spaces is a deeply offensive gesture, symbolising the broader pattern of discrimination and state-enabled marginalisation of Hindus in Bangladesh. A temple is an institution of immense spiritual significance within Hindu tradition. Temples are not merely physical structures; they are sanctified spaces believed to embody the divine presence of the Hindu deity. Hindu temples are held in the highest reverence by the Hindu community. Any attack or threat of violence against a Hindu temple is a direct affront to the religious sentiments of Hindus and constitutes a profound act of disrespect towards their beliefs and cultural heritage. In this instance, instead of acting to safeguard this sacred space, the Bangladesh government bent over backwards to accommodate the demands of the Muslim mob. The presence of military bulldozers and the forceful removal of devotees from the premises reflect the state’s alignment with majoritarian aggression rather than constitutional protections. In reality, the administration itself is made up of people who share the same ideological mindset as the mob. The statement from a Bangladeshi officer that “the rampage happening in the name of the 'Tauhidi Janata' cannot be stopped by the police” makes it clear that the state will yield to religious extremism rather than protecting the rights of its Hindu minorities. This incident is not merely a matter of administrative failure, but one of ideological complicity. Such actions are a direct assault on the fundamental right of Hindus to practice their faith with dignity and without fear. The destruction of the temple and its idols was not just an encroachment case; it was driven by a deep-rooted religious hostility toward the Hindu faith. The message was loud and clear: Hindu sacred spaces exist only at the mercy of the religious majority. It was not merely an administrative failure but an active religious bias. The response of the Bangladesh government, destroying the temple rather than protecting it, points to a disturbing trend of state complicity in the religious persecution of Hindus. Instead of protecting the temple from the Muslim mob, the state essentially fulfilled the demands of the mob, setting a dangerous precedent where Hindu rights are subject to the whims and fancies of the religious majority. This not only shows the vulnerability of Hindus in Bangladesh but also the systemic nature of the threat they face. Attacks on temples, desecration of idols, threats, and state-backed demolitions are not isolated occurrences but part of a recurring pattern of persecution. The siege and subsequent destruction of the Sri Sri Durga Mandir was not just the fall of a structure; it was a calculated message of dominance, exclusion, and erasure. What makes this incident especially troubling is the underlying ideology of Islamic supremacy that fuels such aggression. In many cases across South Asia, particularly in Muslim-majority countries like Bangladesh, attacks on Hindu temples are driven by a belief that non-Muslim places of worship are illegitimate or inferior. The perpetrators often view the presence of Hindu religious institutions as a challenge to their perceived religious dominance and therefore seek to destroy them as a means of asserting control. Since this case involves the demolition of a Hindu temple, desecration of sacred idols, and the state enforcing a mob diktat by restricting religious practice, this case has been added to the tracker.
Case Status
Unknown
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
State and Establishment
Perpetrators Range
N/A
Perpetrators Gender
both
Sources 
