Communal violence against Hindus is increasing in Bangladesh

POBNEWS24, Dhaka Jan 6, 2026 : As the day of the 13th National Parliament elections approaches in Bangladesh, communal violence is increasing alarmingly. At least 51 incidents of violence occurred last December. Of these, 10 were murders, 10 were thefts and robberies, 23 were occupations of houses-business institutions-temple and land, looting and arson. 4 were detentions and torture on false charges, 1 was attempted rape, and 3 were physical torture.
The violence continued in the first week of January this year. Among them, on January 2, 96 acres of paddy land belonging to Satya Ranjan Das was burnt in Ramgati, Lakshmipur, and on January 3, businessman Khokon Chandra Das was hacked to death and set on fire in Shariatpur. On the same day, in the early hours of the morning, everyone in the house of Milan Das of ward number 4 of Amuchia union in Boalkhali upazila of Chittagong was taken hostage and robbed. A similar incident occurred on the same day at the house of Sanu Das of Homnar in Comilla, from which 10 bhari of gold ornaments, 12 bhari of silver and 20 thousand taka were looted. On January 4, a gold merchant named Shuvo Poddar was tied up and about 30 bhari of gold ornaments were looted from his shop. On the same day, a 40-year-old Hindu widow was raped in Kaliganj, Jhenaidah, tied to a tree and tortured with her hair cut off. The fanatic miscreants have demanded that Annapurna Debnath, the Deputy Commissioner and Returning Officer of Kurigram, be removed from her post by labeling her as a friend of the fascist government and a member of ISKCON, for performing her duties properly in the elections. On the same day, local NCP leader M. A. Tafsir and his associate Manjurul Alam were arrested by the police while trying to extort money from Santosh Kumar Roy’s house in Bareya village of Bochaganj upazila of Dinajpur. On Monday, a group of miscreants called 37-year-old Rana Pratap Bairagi, an ice factory businessman from Monirampur in Jessore, from his business establishment and shot him in public and slit his throat. On the same day, miscreants brutally stabbed Mani Chakraborty, a grocery shopkeeper in Palash, Narsingdi, to death at midnight. Many more such chilling incidents have already occurred across the country, the full details of which are not yet available.
However, a council of Hindu fanatics expressed deep anger, concern and strong condemnation over the intensity of communal violence and said in a statement on Tuesday that the minority population across the country is terrified by the unknown future. The minorities are already worried about voting without fear and without hindrance in the upcoming parliamentary elections. This council believes that communal miscreants are continuously carrying out these heinous activities all over Bangladesh to forcibly prevent their preferred candidates from voting in the upcoming elections. The council strongly demands the government and the Election Commission to stop it immediately.