Hindu female professor locked in her office by Muslim mob in Bangladesh

Case ID : f6648fd | Location : Dhaka, Dhaka District, Bangladesh | Date of Incident : Sat, 15 March, 2025

Case ID : f6648fd

Dhaka, Dhaka District, Bangladesh

15 March, 2025

Hindu female professor locked in her office by Muslim mob in Bangladesh

Attack not resulting in death

Attacked for Hindu identity

Case Summary

A Hindu professor, Anindita Dutta, was forcibly locked inside her office at Bangladesh Medical Hospital University in Dhaka by a mob. According to media reports, Anindita Dutta was an associate professor in the Radiology and Imaging department. Her father, Pran Gopal Datta, was a former vice-chancellor of Bangladesh Medical University Hospital and an Awami League MP. The incident occurred when she was walking from block F to block B of the university. She was initially stopped by three individuals who obstructed her path and demanded that she walk with them. When the Hindu professor refused, they threatened her with arrest, which led to a heated argument. She managed to escape and return to her department. Shortly after, a mob gathered outside her office and locked her inside. The university’s proctor, Sheikh Farhad, stated, “Pran Gopal Sir’s daughter works here. She has been detained… We’re also confined here with her. The army has arrived at the scene. We’re in trouble. I will provide details later.” The army and police were later called to the scene. Anindita Dutta was rescued and escorted safely to her home in Dhaka’s Dhanmondi area. Attacks and discrimination against Hindu minorities in Bangladesh are longstanding issues. Hindus regularly face harassment, violence, and systemic discrimination by radical Islamist groups, a situation that has worsened since the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government on August 5, 2024. Taking advantage of the political unrest, Islamist extremists have unleashed terror, targeting Hindu homes, setting them ablaze, and abducting women. Numerous temples have been destroyed in a brutal crackdown on the community. Additionally, the arrest of Hindu priests has further intensified tensions, prompting widespread protests across Bangladesh as Hindus seek justice.

Why it is Hate Crime ?

This case has been added to the tracker under the prime category of- Attack not resulting in death and within this, the 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. While the available details do not explicitly indicate a religious motive, the broader context cannot be ignored. When there is an ongoing ethnic cleansing based on religious identity, every crime in and of itself is assumed to be motivated by the same religious animosity even if there is a lack of specific religious marker in the immediate crime. During an ongoing ethnic cleansing, the dehumanisation of people based on their religious identity and the normalisation of religious hostility drives the crimes committed against them even when there is a lack of stated religious motive. For the purpose of documenting the 2024 ethnic cleansing of Hindus in Bangladesh, the Hinduphobia Tracker is assuming religious motivation ab initio. If a case is specifically and beyond reasonable doubt proven to be driven by motivations other than religious hostility, it will post-facto be removed from the hate crime database.