Bangladesh: In a 24-hour period, two Hindu males were slain in as violence on minorities increased

Bangladesh: According to local media reports, violence against religious minorities, especially the Hindu minority, is on the increase in Bangladesh, where two Hindu men were slain in separate instances within a 24-hour period.

The first victim, 40-year-old Sarat Chakraborty Mani, was fatally assaulted with sharp weapons on Monday night in Dhaka’s Narsingdi area, purportedly by an extreme armed religious group.

The Bangladeshi weekly Blitz stated, citing locals and witnesses, that Mani was operating his grocery store in Charsindur Bazaar in Palash Upazila of Narsingdi when he was unexpectedly assaulted with sharp weapons by unidentified attackers. While being transported to the hospital, he suffered severe injuries and passed away from them.

In the second incident, a Hindu merchant was shot and killed in the Jashore district’s Monirampur Upazila.

The deceased, 38-year-old Rana Pratap Bairagi, was the acting editor of the Narail-based Bangladeshi daily “Dainik BD Khobor” and the owner of an ice production plant in Kapalia Bazar, Monirampur.

On Monday night, the event took place at the upazila’s Kopalia Bazar.

Around 5:45 p.m. on Monday, three attackers came on a motorbike, summoned Rana out of his ice factory, brought him to a neighboring alley, and shot him in the head at close range before fleeing, according to Bangladeshi Bengali newspaper Prothom Alo, which cited locals and police.

Md Raziullah Khan, the officer-in-charge (OC) of the Monirampur police station, confirmed the assault and said that the corpse had been found and would be sent to the Jashore Hospital morgue for a post-mortem.

He continued by saying that the purpose for the murder is still unknown, that the identity of the killers are being looked into, and that legal action is being taken.

These most recent assaults reveal a startling increase in violence against Hindu communities in Bangladesh.

Another Hindu man, Khokon Chandra Das, passed away earlier on Saturday in the Shariatpur district’s Damudya Upazila after a vicious assault by a group of criminals.

In Mymensingh district’s Bhaluka Upazila, 40-year-old Bajendra Biswas was shot and killed by a coworker last week.

Another Hindu teenager, Amrit Mondal, 29, was killed on December 24 of last year, according to Bangladeshi media. He was reportedly slaughtered by a crowd in the Hossaindanga neighborhood of Kalimohar Union in Bangladesh.

A 25-year-old Hindu boy named Dipu Chandra Das was also brutally murdered on December 18 of last year in a mob lynching at his workplace in Bhaluka Upazila, Mymensingh, after a Muslim colleague falsely accused him of blasphemy.

Das was slain by the crowd, who then hanged his corpse on a tree and burned it.

The Muhammad Yunus-led interim administration in Bangladesh has seen an increase in violence against minorities, notably Hindus, which has infuriated citizens and human rights organizations worldwide.