Dhaka [Bangladesh], April 20 : The Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, the largest minority group in the country, on Sunday issued a statement strongly condemning recent incidents of communal violence across the country.
These include the murder of Bhavesh Chandra Roy in Biral, Dinajpur; the forced resignation of school headmaster Kantilal Acharya in Sitakunda, Chattogram; and the rape of a Marma girl in Kaukhali, Rangamati, the statement said.
The statement also mentioned that in March, around fifty violent incidents took place across the country.
"These include murder, rape, attacks on temples, arrests on charges of religious defamation, attacks on indigenous people, and looting of homes and businesses", the statement said.
The council leaders, Ushatan Talukder, Nim Chandra Bhowmik, Nirmal Rozario, and Acting General Secretary Monindra Kumar Nath, said these events are increasing fear and worry among minority communities during this period of unrest and communal tension.
They demanded the immediate arrest of the criminals and strict punishment under the law.
According to the reports, the postmortem of Hindu community leader Bhavesh Chandra Roy, who was allegedly abducted from his home and beaten to death earlier this week in Dinajpur district's Biral upazila, has been completed, police confirmed on Saturday.
According to earlier reports, Bhavesh had received a phone call around 4:30 pm on Wednesday. His wife, Shantana Roy, told the local media outlet The Daily Star that the call was allegedly made by the perpetrators to confirm his presence at home. About 30 minutes later, four men arrived on two motorcycles and forcibly took him from the premises.
Eyewitnesses said Bhavesh was taken to Narabari village, where he was brutally assaulted. Later that evening, the attackers reportedly returned his unconscious body to the family in a van.
Notably, the situation for minorities and Hindus in Bangladesh continues to deteriorate, after Bangladesh's dramatic leadership change last August, when mass protests led by a wide-ranging coalition of student groups, civil society activists, and radical Islamists forced Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign.
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