Hindu Auto Driver, 28, Beaten To Death In Bangladesh

A Hindu auto driver, Samir Das, was beaten to death in Bangladesh, the latest in the series of attacks on Hindu minorities in the country, say local media reports. He was 28.

The brutal attack on the autor driver took place in Daganbhuiyan in Chittagong on Sunday night.

The attackers thrashed and stabbed the auto-rickshaw driver to death. After the murder, the criminals stole the man's battery-operated auto-rickshaw and fled the scene.

"Sameer was murdered with country-made weapons and beaten to death. Prima facie, it appears to be a pre-planned murder. The perpetrators also looted an auto-rickshaw after the killing. The victim's family will file a First Information Report (FIR). The police have launched an operation to identify and arrest the culprits," a police officer in Daganbhuiyana said.

The majority Muslim nation of 170 million has been in turmoil since the 2024 uprising, and the resurgence of Islamist forces has sparked concern among religious minorities, including Sufi Muslims and Hindus, who account for less than 10 per cent of the population.

The Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, a human rights organisation against religious discrimination, has expressed grave concern over the escalating attacks on minority communities across the country.

The rights body stated that communal violence has been increasing at an alarming rate as the February national election in Bangladesh approaches.

New Delhi has also criticised Muslim-majority Bangladesh over the treatment of minorities, particularly Hindus.

Bangladesh's interim leader, Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, has accused India of exaggerating the scale of the violence.

Last week, India said that it continues to monitor the situation in the neighbouring country and hopes that acts of communal violence are addressed decisively.

"We continue to witness a disturbing pattern of recurring attacks on minorities, as well as their homes and establishments, business establishments by extremists in Bangladesh. Such communal incidents need to be dealt with swiftly and firmly," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said during a weekly media briefing in New Delhi on Friday, while responding to a question on escalating attacks on minorities in Bangladesh.

India highlighted a troubling tendency to downplay attacks on minorities by attributing them to personal rivalries or other unrelated factors, warning that such narratives only embolden the extremist elements across Bangladesh.

"We have observed, also observed a troubling tendency to attribute such incidents to personal rivalries, personal vendettas, political differences, and other extraneous reasons. Such disregard only emboldens the extremists and the perpetrators of such crimes and deepens the sense of fear and insecurity among the minorities," said Jaiswal.