Dhaka: Human rights organisations in Bangladesh have raised alarm over escalating violence against minority communities, reporting over a hundred deaths in just seven months.
The Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities (HRCBM) documented 116 minority deaths between June 6, 2025, and January 5, 2026, across all eight divisions and 45 districts, including lynching, murder, and suspicious deaths. The organisation warned that these incidents represent a nationwide pattern of targeted attacks rather than isolated events.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, a human rights body opposing religious discrimination, expressed serious concern over the increasing communal violence, particularly as the February national elections approach.
The council detailed that December 2025 alone saw at least 51 violent incidents, including 10 murders, 10 cases of theft and robbery, 23 incidents of looting, arson, and illegal occupation of homes, businesses, temples, and land, four cases of detention and torture over false religious allegations, one attempted rape, and three physical assaults.
The trend has continued into January 2026. On January 2, paddy crops on land owned by Satyanarjan Das in Lakshmipur were set ablaze. On January 3, businessman Khokon Chandra Das was murdered in Shariatpur, while another family in Chattogram was held hostage during a robbery. On January 4, gold trader Shubho Poddar was tied up and robbed of approximately 350 grams of gold, and a 40-year-old Hindu widowed woman in Jhenaidah was brutally raped and tortured.
Condemning the rising communal violence, the rights bodies emphasised that minority communities are living under fear and uncertainty. They called for urgent government action to ensure the safety and protection of vulnerable groups. (IANS)
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