Two Hindu lawyers attacked for fighting a legal battle for Hindu saint Chinmoy Prabhu in Bangladesh

Case ID : f6645a7 | Location : Bangladesh | Date of Incident : Thu, 6 February, 2025

Case ID : f6645a7

Bangladesh

6 February, 2025

Two Hindu lawyers attacked for fighting a legal battle for Hindu saint Chinmoy Prabhu in Bangladesh

Attack not resulting in death

Attacked for supporting/being part of perceived Hindu party/org or working for Hindu community

Attacked for opposing radicals or trying to save victim

Attacked for Hindu identity

Case Summary

In Bangladesh, two Hindu lawyers named, Kushal Baran Chakraborty and Romen Roy were attacked by radical Muslims who were members of Jamaat-e-Islami. They were attacked for fighting a legal battle for Chinmoy Prabhu. Chinmoy Prabhu was a Hindu monk who led protests against the atrocities faced by Hindus in Bangladesh. He was arrested on the charges of disrespecting the Bangladeshi flag at a rally which he had addressed in October 2024. He was charged with sedition for hoisting a saffron flag. The sedition case occurred when Hindu organisations held a large gathering on an eight-point demand. They demanded a tribunal to prosecute those who oppress Hindus, bringing a law on minority protection, and establishing a ministry for minorities. Since the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government on August 5, 2024, 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. Further, the arrest of Hindu priests has exacerbated the situation with Hindu minorities protesting across Bangladesh seeking justice.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the prime category of- Attack not resulting in death. Under this, the first sub-category 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. The second sub-category relevant here is- Attacked for supporting/being part of perceived Hindu party/org or working for Hindu community. In several cases, Hindus are attacked specifically or tangentially for their association with parties or organisations perceived to be pro-Hindu and/or for working in favour of the Hindu community. One of the classic cases was the attack against a Bharatiya Janata Party Yuva Morcha (BJYM) worker Praveen Nettaru. Nettaru was attacked and hacked to death for his association with Hindu organizations and his work for the Hindu community. He was murdered by PFI, a terror organization which aimed to commit a genocide of Hindus, target Hindu leaders specifically and turn India into an Islamic Nation. In such cases, it is possible that the immediate trigger for the violence is non-religious – either according to the perpetrator or the police. However, there are surrounding circumstances from which the conclusion can be reached that the victim was attacked for his association with a Hindu organization. In a similar case, Rinku Sharma was attacked by radicals. He was a member of Bajrang Dal and regularly worked for the Hindu community. While the police cited a different non-religious trigger for the attack, it is true that he was associated to a Hindu organization and the family of Rinku Sharma specifically attributed his gruesome murder to him working for Bajrang Dal and raising Jai Shree Ram slogans. Such cases are intrinsically driven by religious hate and would therefore be documented as a hate crime under this category. The third sub-category selected is- Attacked for opposing radicals or trying to save victim. In several cases, Hindus are attacked for opposing religiously motivated crimes being committed against a fellow Hindu or simply for voicing an opinion opposing radical elements, who either have in the past or continue to persecute Hindus. In such cases, the initial attack against the victim, against which the Hindu was trying to defend the victim, would also need to be classified as a religiously motivated hate crime. Since the initial crime itself was religiously motivated and the subsequent crime of attempting to save the victim or speaking against the radical elements ends up inviting a violent attack, it would also be classified as a religiously motivated hate crime under this category. This case has been categorised under multiple prime categories in the tracker due to the clear religious markers present in the incident. Firstly, Kushal Baran Chakraborty and Romen Roy—were targeted specifically as Hindu lawyers defending a fellow Hindu, Chinmoy Prabhu. Their religious identity made them a target for radical Jamaat-e-Islami members, who sought to punish them for standing up for their co-religionists. Further, the lawyers were not just representing an individual but advocating for Hindu rights in Bangladesh, which Islamists perceived as an act of defiance. Their legal support for Chinmoy Prabhu, who was leading protests against the persecution of Hindus, made them a target of Islamist vengeance. Lastly, by defending Chinmoy Prabhu, who was falsely accused of sedition for hoisting a saffron flag, the lawyers were seen as directly opposing the radical elements that orchestrated his arrest. Their advocacy challenged the Islamist agenda of suppressing Hindu voices, leading to the attack against them. This incident is yet another blatant example of the violent repression of Hindus in Bangladesh, where even legal professionals seeking justice are not spared from Islamist aggression.