[Order Michael Finch’s new book, A Time to Stand: HERE. Prof. Jason Hill calls it “an aesthetic and political tour de force.”]
As the world prepared to welcome the New Year, Hindu families in Bangladesh continued to fight for their lives, livelihoods, and belongings. In the early hours of December 24, 2025, attackers locked the doors from the outside and set fire to the homes of two Hindu families in Sultanpur village, Raozan upazila of Chattogram. Smoke filled the houses while the occupants slept, but all the residents narrowly escaped by cutting through the tin roof and bamboo fencing. Officials noted this was the sixth arson attack on the minority community in five days, with police saying it followed a pattern of similar incidents in the area, where doors were locked from the outside before the homes were set ablaze.
Again, on December 27, 2025, at least five homes belonging to Hindu families were deliberately set ablaze in Damritala/Dumritola village of Pirojpur district, southern Bangladesh. Police and locals said the families escaped, but their homes, household goods, land documents, and livestock were destroyed entirely. The assailants acted with the same calculated brutality, locking the doors from the outside before setting the houses ablaze, to ensure that those trapped inside would burn to death. The timing and method of the attack sent has shocked the Hindu community across Bangladesh.
Life has become increasingly precarious for religious minorities in Bangladesh, as growing jihadist sentiment among the Bangladeshi youth and the steady rise of Sharia adherence continue to affect the country’s treatment of religious minorities. Hindu communities, in particular, are living under the constant threat of Muslim-driven mob violence, arson, and intimidation. Observers increasingly view what authorities repeatedly describe as “isolated incidents” as part of a wider pattern of Islamic jihad activity taking over the streets.
Earlier in mid-December 2025, we had reported on the brutal mob lynching of Hindu youth Dipu Chandra Das in Bhaluka, Mymensingh district. This incident should have prompted immediate, strong action from the state. While Dipu was abducted, lynched, tied to a tree, and set on fire on allegations of blasphemy against Islam, after subsequent police investigations, the administrative officials revealed publicly that no evidence of the victim indulging in any form of blasphemy towards Islam was found, exposing the lethal consequences of the religious hysteria that drives mob justice and acts based on fabricated accusations in Bangaldesh.
Again, the media narrative, from both national and international, left-leaning establishments, quickly shifted as well. Coverage of Dipu Chandra Das’s killing was hurriedly buried as headlines became dominated by the political assassination of jihadist student leader Sharif Osman Hadi. The sustained focus on Hadi’s killing and the surrounding political unrest drowned out scrutiny of Islamic mob violence against minorities, allowing the issue to fade from public debate without resolution.
As media houses and narrative-building machinery remained fixated on the glorification of the deceased Islamic youth leader, violence against Hindus continued to escalate. On December 29, 2025, Bajendra Biswas (40), a Hindu worker deployed at Sultana Sweaters Limited, a garment factory in the Mehrabari area of Bhaluka Upazila, Mymensingh district, was shot dead inside the factory premises. Police identified the accused as Noman Mia (29), a fellow member of the Bangladesh Ansar and Village Defence Force, an auxiliary paramilitary unit assigned to factory security. The fatal shooting occurred around 6:30 pm, after which Biswas was rushed to a local health facility, where he was declared dead. Though Noman Mia has been arrested, authorities are attempting to downplay this case, suggesting that the shooting was an internal dispute. Watering down the murders of Hindu victims is nothing new in Bangladesh, and shocks no one. This killing marked yet another violent death of a Hindu man in the same region within days, further reinforcing fears of unbridled Islamic violence and jihad activity.
On December 31, 2025, a Muslim mob brutally attacked a 50-year-old Hindu businessman, Khokon Chandra Das, in Damudya upazila of Shariatpur district in Bangladesh while he was returning home after closing his pharmacy and mobile banking shop. The assailants beat and stabbed him with sharp weapons, doused him with petrol, and set him on fire, forcing him to jump into a nearby pond to extinguish the flames and save his life. Locals later rescued him and took him to Shariatpur Sadar Hospital before he was referred to Dhaka in critical condition. The victim’s wife stated that the attackers were Muslims and said the family had no personal or business disputes with anyone. Police have identified two suspects named Rabbi and Sohag, and continue further investigation.
What emerges from these events is a disturbing continuum of violence, including mob lynchings, targeted arson, and fatal attacks taking place within days of each other, all amid rising Islamic jihad activity in the country. A Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities (HRCBM) report has noted at least 71 incidents linked to blasphemy allegations against Hindus from June through December 2025, across more than 30 districts, including Chandpur, Chattogram, Dinajpur, Lalmonirhat, Sunamganj, Khulna, Comilla, Gazipur, Tangail, and Sylhet.
Media reports also highlight a desperate appeal from the Hindus in Bangladesh, who say they feel trapped in the midst of rising violence and fear for their lives following recent brutal mob lynchings. They have made an emotional plea to the government of India to open its borders so they can flee persecution and find safety. “We face constant insults for our faith, but cannot react to repeated humiliation. The mere taunts we face while walking down the road may soon turn into mob killings. We are trapped and have nowhere to go. We swallow insults as we fear we could meet the same fate as Dipu or Amrit.”… “We are helpless. We can only escape to India, but there is strict control at the borders,” says a 52-year-old resident speaking to The Times of India.
The appeal reflects deep anxiety within the Hindu community, as rising support for hardline political figures known for emboldening jihadist elements has intensified fears that violence and discrimination against Hindus will further escalate.
