Dhaka: Yet another member of the Hindu community was killed, this time in the Sunamganj district of the country.
Joy Mahapatro’s family claimed that he was thrashed and poisoned by a local on Thursday. He later died in the intensive care unit (ICU) of the Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital.
Further details about the case are awaited, as reported by NDTV.
The incident comes just days after a 25-year-old Hindu man died after jumping into a canal to escape a mob chasing him on suspicion of being a thief. The body of the victim, identified as Mithun Sarkar from Bhandarpur village, was recovered by the police on Tuesday afternoon.
The police have found no evidence of Sarkar being involved in any crime.
There has been a sharp ri
se in violence targeting religious minorities in Bangladesh as the country prepares for its first parliamentary elections since the 2024 uprising that toppled the Sheikh Hasina government.
Human rights observers have insisted that the recent killings are not isolated tragedies but signals of a systemic breakdown in the state’s ability to protect its most vulnerable citizens.
On Thursday, the Bangladesh police arrested the prime suspect behind the lynching of Hindu man Dipu Chandra Das, a garment worker killed over allegations of blasphemy. A police probe did not reveal any blasphemous activity on Das’ part.
Officials identified the accused as Yasin Arafat, a former teacher believed to have played a central role in both orchestrating and carrying out the attack.
Das (27), was killed on December 18 in the Mymensingh district. He was allegedly forced to resign by his factory supervisors before being dragged from his workplace and handed over to an enraged local mob.
The crowd beat him to death, hanged his body from a tree, and set it on fire.
Investigators revealed that several of his colleagues had participated in the assault.