As per the police report, the majority of the assaults on minorities in Bangladesh that occurred since Sheikh Hasina’s deposition were ‘not communally driven; rather, they were political in nature.’
This follows the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council’s claim that minorities in Bangladesh faced 1,769 incidents of communal violence and atrocities.
The incidents of communal violence against minorities in Bangladesh since August 4, 2024, have led to police filing 62 cases and at least detaining 35 offenders based on investigation findings.
The police report revealed that most attacks on minorities in Bangladesh were politically motivated rather than communally driven, with investigations claiming 1,234 incidents as political and only 20 as communal.
The report also stated that almost 161 claims of attacks were fake, while the Council reported that out of 1,452 incidents, 82.8% of the total occurred on August 5, 2024, the day Sheikh Hasina was deposed from power.
The report further claimed that 53 cases had been registered and 65 detentions had been made. Overall, since August 4, there have been 115 complaints of communal attacks, leading to the conviction of at least 100 individuals. The interim government reasserted its zero-tolerance stance on communal violence.
“The government has also declared that it would compensate the victims. The interim government gives the top priority to the establishment of human rights irrespective of creed, colour, ethnicity, sex, or gender,” said chief adviser’s deputy press secretary Abul Kalam Azad Majumder.
After the breakdown of the Hasina government, India at many events expressed concerns over the security of minorities, particularly Hindus, who were mostly seen as supporters of Hasina’s Awami League.
The arrest of Iskcon priest Chinmoy Krishna Das over sedition allegations, which stemmed from the hoisting of a saffron flag above Bangladesh’s national flag during a rally, further intensifies the concerns of discrimination against minorities in the South Asian nation, attracting criticism from India.
The Bangladesh interim government has denied such allegations, with government chief adviser Muhammad Yunus asserting that violence against minorities had occurred “only in some cases” and most complaints were “completely exaggerated.”
