A Hindu youth drowned in Bangladesh’s Naogaon district after being chased by a mob on suspicion of theft, police said .
The youth identified as Mithun Sarkar jumped into a nearby water body to escape the mob in the Mohadevpur area, where he died, Naogaon SP Mohammad Tariqul Islam told ANI. Authorities have initiated an investigation and sent the body for a post-mortem.
“In the northern district of Naogaon in Bangladesh, in an area called Mohadevpur, a Hindu young man named Mithun Sarkar was chased by a mob accusing him of theft. He jumped into the water and after he jumped in, he died. The police were informed and they recovered his body with the help of the fire service,” Mohammad Tariqul Islam, Police Super (SP) of Naogoan, told ANI over the phone on Wednesday.
“We are conducting a post-mortem on Mithun Sarkar’s body and investigating the incident”, Islam added, without elaborating.
Incidents of violence against minorities have increased under the Bangladesh Interim Government Chief Adviser Mohammad Yunus. The violence escalated after Osman Hadi’s death—he was shot during campaigning and later died while undergoing treatment in Singapore.
In December alone, at least 51 incidents of violence were reported.
The Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council said in a statement that these included 10 murders, 10 cases of theft and robbery, 23 incidents of encroachment on homes, businesses, temples, and land, looting and arson, four cases of arrest and torture on false charges of religious defamation and being “RAW agents,” one attempted rape, and three incidents of assault.
Earlier incidents of violence against minorities included the hacking and burning of businessman Khokan Chandra Das to death in Shariatpur on January 3. On the same day at dawn, the family of Milan Das in Ward No. 4 of Amuchia Union under Boalkhali Upazila in Chattogram was held hostage during a robbery.
Earlier on December 19, Dipu Chandra Das was lynched to death over alleged blasphemous remarks and set on fire.
India has voiced concern over the atrocities against minorities; however, Bangladesh has dismissed New Delhi’s concerns as “exaggerated and misleading”, accusing India of portraying isolated criminal incidents as organized religious persecution.
