Hindu woman found dead in mysterious circumstances in Bangladesh amidst ongoing persecution of Hindus
Bagerhat District, Bangladesh 
21 July, 2025
Case Summary
In Chitalmari upazila, located in the Bagerhat district of Bangladesh, the dead body of a Hindu woman was discovered under mysterious circumstances. As per news reports, the deceased is identified as a 20-year-old woman named Arpita Saha. Her body was recovered from a fish pond belonging to a man named Paritosh Bala. When Paritosh discovered Arpita's body, he immediately alerted the police, who then recovered her body. Arpita had been missing since 21st July 2025. She was the daughter of a saree trader named Anand Saha. Reports indicated that she had been mentally unstable and suffered from frequent epileptic fits. For this reason, despite being married a year earlier in 2024, she used to stay at her father’s house. After her body was identified, the police registered the case as an ‘accidental death’. 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 plunged into chaos as Islamist extremists took 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 of Hindus under Muhammad Yunus’s interim government.
Why it is 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. Amidst this, reports emerged of a Hindu woman's dead body being discovered in a pond in Bangladesh. Given the broader pattern of religiously motivated violence in Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority country, it would not be unreasonable to suspect that the deceased Hindu victim was targeted or killed due to her Hindu identity. This case has the potential to be classified as a religiously motivated hate crime, particularly considering the victim's religious background and the escalated persecution and marginalisation of the Hindu community in Bangladesh. However, in this case, at present, there is no explicit evidence indicating a religious motive, nor has the deceased victim's family or police indicated any religious animosity as a motivating factor behind her death. Due to these facts, the case has currently been placed in the 'Undecided' database. If any further information emerges suggesting a religious motive behind the death of the Hindu woman, then it will be reassessed and added to the hate crime database.
Victim Details
Total Victim
1
Deceased
1
Gender
- Male 0
- Female 1
- Third Gender 0
- Unknown 0
Caste
- SC/ST 0
- OBC 0
- General 1
- Unknown 0
Age Group
- Minor 0
- Adult 1
- Senior Citizen 0
- Unknown 0
Case Status
Complaint filed
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Unknown
Perpetrators Range
Unknown
Perpetrators Gender
unknown
Sources 
