Police in southern Bangladesh have arrested 11 people for their alleged involvement in vandalizing and looting Hindu temples and shops.
The arrests were made after a local Hindu leader filed a case following attacks on four Hindu temples and several shops in Shiali village in the Rupsa area of Khulna district on Aug. 7.
A mob attacked the village with homemade weapons following an altercation over the singing of Hindu religious songs by women on the previous night on their way to a Hindu crematorium, which allegedly enraged a Muslim cleric, a Hindu leader said.
Despite an attempt to resolve the tension through a meeting, more than 100 Muslims from neighboring villages vandalized and looted the temples and shops, he said.
Shaktipada Basu, president of the local unit of Puja Celebration Council, a national Hindu organization, filed a case on Aug. 7 night at Rupsa police station accusing 25 named and another 150-200 unnamed persons of the violence.
“We arrested 11 people and requested the court for a remand to interrogate them for seven days. The court granted two days’ remand for each. Of the 11 arrested, nine are accused and the other two are suspects,” investigating police officer Sirajul Islam told UCA News.
We want a proper investigation and trial for the violence. We know those who attacked and they are still roaming around in public
“Now that the overall situation in the village is normal, the police are ready to prevent any kind of violence.”
A Hindu leader said the incident was extremely disappointing and fear has gripped villagers since the attacks.
“We want a proper investigation and trial for the violence. We know those who attacked and they are still roaming around in public. We will hold a human chain tomorrow to demand their arrest,” Divyangshu Malakar, a Hindu and a member of Ghatvog Union Council, a local government body, told UCA News on Aug. 11.
Malakar said villagers are still in a state of panic even though police continue to patrol the area.
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Rights activists, lawyers, university teachers, former judges and leaders of minority communities have issued statements demanding the arrest and trial of those responsible for the attack on the minority community.
“It was not an isolated incident but another shameful example of the atrocities perpetrated on minorities during the coronavirus pandemic. We strongly protest against all previous incidents of torture of minorities, including harassment and human rights violations, and call for exemplary punishment and swift arrest of the perpetrators,” said a statement by 20 eminent citizens on Aug. 10.
“We demand the government take proactive steps to involve the people in building resistance against any kind of communal attacks and torture besides taking political, administrative and legal measures to prevent such incidents from happening again.”
Muslim-majority Bangladesh has witnessed similar attacks on minorities in recent years
Daud Jibon Das, secretary of the Justice and Peace Commission of Khulna Diocese, also condemned the violence.
“No religion teaches violence. Therefore, the leaders of all our religions should come out to strongly denounce such extremism in the name of religion and to show respect to all religions equally so that such violence can be stopped,” Das told UCA News.
Muslim-majority Bangladesh has witnessed similar attacks on minorities in recent years.
On March 17, 2021, Muslims attacked a Hindu village in Sunamganj district and vandalized about 80 houses in a dispute over a defamatory Facebook post.
On Oct. 30, 2016, Islamic radicals, enraged by an allegedly blasphemous Facebook post, vandalized dozens of Hindu temples and houses and beat up scores of Hindus in Nasirnagar in eastern Bangladesh.
On Sept. 29, 2012, a Muslim mob attacked, ransacked and burned down Buddhist temples, statues and houses in Cox’s Bazar district. They were reportedly angered by a Facebook image of a burnt Quran posted by a Buddhist youth.
