Persecution of the poor minority Hindus in Bangladesh continues to shock us. As the election is coming near, the intensity of the attacks on the minorities is rising. And in several cases, these attacks have been masterminded and orchestrated by political leaders.

In a recent incident, the leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Farid Munshi, and his supporters attacked, ransacked, and robbed several Hindu houses on Saturday, July 31. The incident is reported from Kamaria village of Dhalarachandra Union in Shailkupa Upazila of Jhenaidah district of Bangladesh. Six Hindu women and ten Hindu men sustained severe injuries in the attack. 

A case has been filed against 32 miscreants, including Farid Munshi, a Bogra Union Parishad member and Jubo League leader in connection with the attack. Another 23 unidentified individuals have been accused in this incident. The police case was filed by Ratan Chandra Kundu, a member of Ward No. 8 of Dhalachandra Union at Shailkupa Police Station as the plaintiff on Monday, August 1.

Aminul Islam, OC Shailkupa police station, has confirmed that none of the accused in this attack has been arrested so far. This inaction has taken place from the authorities’ end, although the suspects’ residences are in Bogra and Ratnat villages, which are only 6-7 km away from the spot. 

Local Hindus say the assailants were armed with indigenous weapons when they entered the village. They first demanded three lakhs of Takas from Hindu tea seller Dev Kumar and then started assaulting him. They caught Hindu fertilizer trader Bikash Mandal while returning from Langalbandh market and looted 120,000 Takas from him. They even beat him up after looting the money.

After robbing and assaulting these traders, these attackers entered the Hindu houses. They created a terror by abusing the minority families, vandalizing their homes, and robbing whatever they could find. As per reports, they looted these people of the little cash and gold ornaments they had as savings. 

Another local said such an attack had also happened earlier; around 30 – 40 miscreants attacked the Hindu village. The OC then caught the attackers, took down their names, and let them go. Angered by the minimal police action, they again charged the village and looted and ransacked Hindu homes.

He also informed that the Hindus who were assaulted during the attack had been severely injured and had to be admitted to the hospital for treatment. He also alleges that the Islamist leaders threatened them, saying they would send the Hindus to India if they didn’t oblige. 

Visuals of a victimized minority family show the man in the family lying down. He is severely injured and is on IV fluid. The wife is crying and showing the wounds on her husband’s body.

“He will not be able to work anymore. What will we do? We are poor people.” Showing around her vandalized house, she cries, “my house has been torn down. If they keep on torturing us, how will we live? They (the assailants) had come some 10 – 12 days ago. They robbed our shop, took away all the money, and beat us up. We want justice.” 

With the grandchild on her lap, the mother of the battered man cries, “I fell on their feet and pleaded not to beat my son, but they didn’t spare him.”

Ratan Chandra Kundu has claimed that Farid Munshi had been demanding extortion money from the Hindu community for a long time. But when the Hindus failed to give him the extortion money, Farid and his goons attacked their homes and businesses to make up for the extortion money in demand.