Hindu man targeted by Muslims in Bangladesh over 'blasphemy' accusation, faces calls for execution

Case ID : ef654a4 | Location : Dinajpur District, Bangladesh | Date of Incident : Sun, 15 June, 2025

Case ID : ef654a4

Dinajpur District, Bangladesh

15 June, 2025

Hindu man targeted by Muslims in Bangladesh over 'blasphemy' accusation, faces calls for execution

Attack not resulting in death

Attacked over 'Blasphemy'

Case Summary

In Parbatipur, Dinajpur district, Bangladesh, a young Hindu man named Sohag Das, aged 24, was assaulted by Muslims over allegations of 'blasphemy' against the Prophet of Islam. According to reports, the victim is a resident of Jaliapara village, North Shalandar, in Chandipur Union. He allegedly made a Facebook post against Prophet Mohammad. As reported, this post was subsequently seen by Muslim groups, who accused Das of hurting the sentiments of the Muslim community and committing 'blasphemy'. A large crowd, led by the Muslim group Al Insaf Islami Sangh, staged protests against him, demanding his execution. Massive demonstrations were organised by many Muslim groups on 17th June 2025 at the Bashirbania Hat College intersection, calling for Das to be hanged. Furthermore, leaders of various Muslim groups organised protest marches and delivered speeches against Das. They declared that protests would continue until Das was executed for allegedly insulting the Prophet of Islam. One Muslim leader among the protestors stated, “We love the Prophet more than our lives. Hurting His honour means hurting the entire Muslim Ummah. We demand the highest penalty, the death sentence, for this criminal.” The religious affairs secretary of the youth society, Hafez Md. Jahangir Alam, general secretary, Md. Mokarram Hossain, president of Bashirbania Hat Central Jame Mosque, Md. A. Quddus, and Tofazzal Haque were among the Muslim leaders who addressed the protests. In the videos shared on social media, the Muslim protestors could be heard chanting slogans demanding that Sohag Das be hanged. The protestors also urged Bangladesh’s Chief Advisor, Muhammad Yunus, to execute Das for his alleged remarks about the Prophet Muhammad. They further demanded that the government enact a law prescribing the death penalty for insulting the Prophet. 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 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 these developments, reports have emerged of Muslims demanding the hanging of a Hindu man as punishment for his alleged remarks against the Prophet of Islam. In this case, it is highly possible that most Muslim protestors likely have no idea what the Hindu boy actually said, but that hardly matters. They rally behind the crowd, driven more by deep-rooted bias against Hindus. Demands for the harshest punishments, including death, echo through the streets without any evidence being examined. Instead of letting the police investigate and due process take its course, it is the street justice of the Muslim mob that prevails. More often than not, especially during these waves of targeted violence, Islamist groups just need an excuse to attack non-Muslims, particularly Hindus. And that excuse is frequently "blasphemy." It has become a common and convenient trigger, fabricated or exaggerated, to justify a Muslim mob action against Hindus. The criteria for what constitutes blasphemy keep shifting, and in many cases, there's no actual offence, just a pretext born out of deep-seated animosity toward Hindus and their beliefs. The flexibility and vagueness of what constitutes blasphemy allow Muslim extremists to weaponise it at will, making Hindus and other minorities easy targets. In this case, the public calls for the execution of Sohag Das, over alleged remarks against Prophet Muhammad, is a clear example of a hate crime targeting a Hindu individual based on his religious identity. Hate crimes are defined as criminal acts motivated by bias or prejudice against a particular group, in this case, the Hindu minority. The collective targeting of Das by Islamist groups in Bangladesh, the demand for his death, and the mass protests referencing the alleged "blasphemy" highlight the religious motivation behind this act. 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. 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.