POBNEWS24, Dhaka Dec 26, 2025 : This year, more than 500 incidents of communal violence, including over 50 murders of religious minorities, have occurred across the country. In the first three weeks of December alone, five members of minority communities were brutally killed. These incidents include: the murder of gold merchant Prantosh Karmakar in Raipura, Narsingdi on December 2; fish trader Utpal Sarkar in Salfa, Faridpur on December 5; freedom fighter and headmaster Jogesh Chandra Roy along with his wife Subarna Roy in Taraganj, Rangpur on December 6; and the barbaric killing of garment worker Dipu Chandra Das in Bhaluka, Mymensingh on December 18 at 9:00 PM. Dipu was beaten half to death, hung from a tree, and set on fire under the pretext of alleged “defamation of religion.” Furthermore, on December 19, around 2:30 PM, a rickshaw puller named Gopal Biswas was detained in front of the local municipality gate in Jhenaidah by a mob of unruly individuals. Labelled as an agent of the Indian intelligence agency ‘RAW,’ he was lynched and handed over to the local police by the so-called “student-masses.”
In protest of these violent incidents, a human chain and protest rally organised by the Minority Unity Alliance (Shonkhyaloghu Oikkya Morcha) was held today, Monday, December 22, at 10:30 AM in front of the National Press Club in Dhaka. Following the rally, a protest march paraded through various streets of the capital.
Expressing deep concern at the rally, minority leaders stated that a vested evil quarter is actively working to further destabilize the current volatile situation by continuing such horrific acts. Through these actions, they are terrorizing and discouraging the minority population from voting fearlessly and without hindrance in the upcoming parliamentary elections. If these obstacles to democratic transition are not removed, it may ultimately call into question the international credibility of the elections.
Minority leaders issued a strong demand to the government to take stringent measures to immediately stop communal violence, while also calling for the arrest and punishment of the perpetrators.
The protest rally was presided over by Nirmal Rozario, President of the Bangladesh Christian Association. Speeches were delivered by prominent minority leaders, including Prof. Dr. Neem Chandra Bhowmik, President of the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council; Presidium Member Adv. Subrata Chowdhury; Acting General Secretary and Joint Coordinator of Minority Unity Alliance Manindra Kumar Nath; Vice President of Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad D.N. Chatterjee; President of Mahanagar Sarbojonin Puja Committee Jayanta Kumar Deb; President of Bangladesh Rishi Panchayat Forum Ramananda Das; General Secretary of Bangladesh Sanatan Party Adv. Suman Kumar Roy; Minority Rights Movement leader Susmita Kar; Joint General Secretary of World Hindu Federation Bangladesh Santosh Das; General Secretary of Bangladesh Jatiya Hindu Mohajote Dr M.K. Roy; President of Bangladesh Hindu Mahasangha Pijush Das; President of Bangladesh Hindu Unity Forum K.C. Mazumder Khokon; General Secretary of Bangladesh Lawyer Unity Council Adv. Anup Kumar Saha; President of Bangladesh Youth Unity Council Shimul Saha; President of Bangladesh Jatiya Juba Hindu Mohajote Pradip Kanti De; and Acting President of Bangladesh Student Unity Council Sajib Sarkar, among others. The human chain and rally were moderated by Palash Kanti De, Executive Secretary of Bangladesh Jatiya Hindu Mohajote.
Following the assembly, a protest march proceeded from the Press Club area toward the High Court, circled through Purana Paltan intersection, and concluded back at the Press Club. Similar protest rallies were held across the country with the same demands.
