New Delhi, Dec 19: A Hindu youth was lynched and his body set on fire by a mob in Bangladesh’s Mymensingh district on Thursday night after allegations of blasphemy, amid spiralling unrest and rising concerns over attacks on minorities and the media.
The incident took place in Dubalia Para of Square Master Bari in Bhaluka upazila, where locals allegedly accused garment worker Dipu Chandra Das of insulting the Prophet, BBC Bangla reported. “A group of agitated people caught him and beat him up around 9 pm on Thursday for insulting the Prophet. Then they set his body on fire,” Bhaluka police duty officer Ripon Mia said, adding that the mob tied the body to a tree before burning it.
Police said they recovered the body and sent it to Mymensingh Medical College Hospital for autopsy, but no case had been registered till Friday as they were still tracing the victim’s relatives. The killing comes against the backdrop of violent protests following the death of student leader Sharif Osman Hadi, whose shooting and subsequent death in hospital triggered large-scale demonstrations and attacks in Dhaka, including arson and vandalism at the offices of leading newspapers Prothom Alo and The Daily Star.
Journalists were trapped inside smoke-filled newsrooms during the attacks, with The Daily Star forced to halt publication for the first time in its history, while media groups and organisations like the Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the assaults as attacks on press freedom and dissent. A parliamentary standing committee in New Delhi has termed the situation in Bangladesh “complex and evolving”, flagging recurring violence and intimidation targeting minorities, tribal communities, media houses, intellectuals and journalists, even as India maintains engagement with the interim government and presses its concerns over extremism and minority safety.
