Eminent citizens today issued a statement demanding arrest and trial of the culprits responsible for vandalising and ransacking several houses, shops and temples of the Hindu community in Khulna’s Rupsha upazila.
“This is not an isolated incident. It’s a shameful example of repression of minorities during the pandemic,” they said in a joint statement signed by Shamsul Huda, executive director of ALRD.
“In recent years, repression of minority communities has increased. We have seen such incidents in Cox’s Bazar’s Ramu (2012), Pabna’s Santhia (2013), Brahmanbaria’s Nasirnagar (2016), Bhola’s Manpura (2020), and in Sunamganj’s Shalla (2021),” they said.
“We have repeatedly urged the authorities concerned to take necessary measures to avoid such incidents and demanded trial of the responsible persons,” they added.
“But still the investigation into the incidents have not been completed and real criminals were never put on trial,” they said.
“Despite the local administration being aware of the chaotic situation in Rupsha, they did not take any action to stop untoward incidents, nor take any measure to ensure security of the minority community,” they said.
“Why did the administration, and local political representatives avoid their responsibilities?” — they asked.
“We strongly protest such incidents of torture, harassment and human rights violation of members of the minority community at Shiyali village in Khulna’s Rupsha upazila,” they said.
“We demand arrest and punishment of the criminals who were behind the incident,” they said in the statement.
“We also demand that the government take steps to engage the general people in preventing such incidents,” they said.
The signatories include human rights activist Advocate Sultana Kamal; Khushi Kabir, coordinator and leader of Nijera Kori; Dr Iftekharuzzaman, executive director, TIB; Advocate Rana Das Gupta, prosecutor at International Crimes Tribunal; Advocate Subrata Chowdhury, senior lawyer at the Supreme Court; Dr Abul Barkat, Professor at Dhaka University; Advocate Syeda Rizwana Hasan, chief executive at BELA.
