Hindus smashed up in Comilla, Bangladesh

On April 27, 2014, minority Hindus living in the village of Baksitarampur within the Chanderchar Union, sub-district of Homna in the district of Comilla in Bangladesh earned the wrath of tens of thousands of radical Muslims that led to utter destruction of 35 residences of Hindus along with a Hindu temple. Hindus were taken aback by the entire development where even students of five madrasas took part elatedly and as expected, the destruction went on for hours. Hindus pleaded with the belligerent crowd to stop but the appeal fell on deaf ears only. It has come to knowledge, a derogatory remark on Hazrat Mohammed, Prophet of Islam, on Facebook urged the Islamic crowd to assail Hindus. However, many have been found to state that it was nothing but a rumor based on which Hindus were targeted. The incident terrorized Hindus in the village such that they fled during the onslaught and they are hiding still.

According to local sources and police and also devastated Hindus, Muslims, living in Banshkaitta of the sub-district of Muradnagar neighboring to the village of Baksitarampur within the Chanderchar Union in the sub-district of Homna, brought out processions following the namaz of magrib on April 26 to protest against the attempts of Udbhav Chandra Das (son of Chan Mohan Das) and Anil Das (son of Srinibas Chandra Das) living in Baksitarampur to insult Nabi Mohammed on Facebook. Locals, to halt the impending danger, had a meeting on the same night but due to the absence of any decision, another meeting was convened on the following day at 2 pm. But prior to it the onslaught on Hindus was conducted by radical Muslims leading to the destruction of almost 40 residences of Hindus along with a Hindu temple. While residences were ransacked and then destructed, holy deities in the temple were desecrated and destroyed initially followed by the temple’s demolition. These include residences of Chan Mohan Das, Srinibas Chandra Das, Dr. Rampada, Swapan, Tapan, Prtahlad, Sahadev Saha.  The onslaught went on for three hours (between 2pm – 5pm) and even if local police succeeded to contain the violence ultimately, the whole area is under a grave tension. Three platoons of police has been deputed in and around the village of Baksitarampur.

On the word of Aslam Shikdar, Officer-in-Charge of the Homna police station, a rumor was spread by activists of BNP and Jamaat strategically and the sole objective was to oust Hindus from the area through persecution. The onslaught was led by local leaders of Jamaat and BNP; participation of students of five madrasas enthused Islamists highly. Aslam Shidkdar’s views have been supported by Tutul Chakraborty, police super of Comilla district also, who has been found to term the attack as deliberate and also assured that stern measures would be adopted against culprits.

 Hindu Samhati regularly monitors and reports violations against Hindus in West Bengal. We also work with both governmental and NGO agencies for proper education on protection and ensure remedies to the Hindu populace as per prevailing law of the land.