VHP leader arrested in Bangladesh on fabricated sedition charges amidst ongoing genocide of Hindus

Case ID : f6648fe | Location : Bagerhat District, Bangladesh | Date of Incident : Fri, 14 March, 2025

Case ID : f6648fe

Bagerhat District, Bangladesh

14 March, 2025

VHP leader arrested in Bangladesh on fabricated sedition charges amidst ongoing genocide of Hindus

Attack not resulting in death

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

Attacked for Hindu identity

Case Summary

In Chitalmari Upazila, Bagerhat district, Bangladesh, Kapil Krishna Mondol, the General Secretary of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), was arrested under dubious allegations of 'sedition' and 'anti-national conspiracy'. According to news reports, the police raided his house and claimed to have found evidence of ‘suspicious meetings’ with domestic and foreign agents on his mobile phone. Kapil Krishna Mondol was subsequently charged under the draconian Anti-Terrorism Act of 2009. Chitalmari police station OC Shahadat Hossain confirmed the claim, alleging that the Hindu activist had conspired with 5 to 6 accomplices to undermine Bangladesh’s security apparatus. He further stated that the raid was carried out based on intelligence reports. Kapil Krishna Mondol was then presented before a court and remanded in custody. The arrests of Hindu activists on dubious sedition charges are not a new occurrence in Bangladesh. In November 2024, former ISKCON priest Chinmoy Krishna Das Prabhu was similarly arrested on dubious charges of sedition. The discrimination and oppression of Hindus are increasingly being normalised and institutionalised by the Bangladeshi government. The arrest of the VHP General Secretary is a stark example of this state-sanctioned oppression of Hindu minorities. These instances have increased 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, this has led to protests organised by Hindu minorities with the intention of 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 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 other 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 arrest of Kapil Krishna Mondol was directly linked to his position as General Secretary of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), a role explicitly connected with working for the Hindu community. The police allegations of “sedition” and “anti-national conspiracy” were vague, and the so-called evidence (photographs and mobile conversations) is unverifiable and has been framed within a political narrative of criminalising Hindu leadership. Beyond organisational affiliation, Kapil Krishna Mondol was also targeted because of his Hindu religious identity in a Muslim majority state. The Bangladeshi police applied the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2009—a law notorious for being wielded disproportionately against minorities, particularly Hindus. The charge of “anti-state conspiracy” has been selectively used to silence Hindu activists and further the Islamist agenda of reducing Hindu visibility in public life. This is not an isolated case but part of a broader pattern of targeted violence against Hindus in Bangladesh, which has only increased since the violent ouster of Sheikh Hasina on 5th August 2024, with at least 205 attacks on Hindu temples, shops, and businesses reported within just three days of Dhaka’s fall. 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.