New Delhi: A New Delhi-based rights group, the Rights and Risks Analysis Group (RRAG), has claimed that at least 15 members of the Hindu minority community were killed in Bangladesh over the past 45 days, allegedly by individuals belonging to the Muslim majority.
RRAG Director Suhas Chakma said on Thursday that “in the last 45 days between December 1, 2025 to 15 January 15, 2026, at least 15 minority Hindus were murdered by persons belonging to the majority Muslims in Bangladesh — murder of one Hindu every third day”.
“The murdered victims included elderly women like Suborna Roy and youth like 18-year-old Shanta Chandra Das. All the cases of murder were premeditated, often targeting the assets of the victims such as Samir Das and Shanta Chandra Das whose auto-rickshaws were taken away. A number of murders were committed in a Taliban style by slitting the throats, such as, of Rana Pratap Bairagi, Shanto Chandra Das, Jogesh Chandra Roy and Suborna Roy,” Chama added.
According to the RRAG Director, these murders are just tip of the iceberg on other daily acts of violence against Hindus and other minorities across Bangladesh and no news of these violence appeared in the media.
“This extreme vulnerability of the Hindu minorities in Bangladesh faces a new challenge. Unlike the previous governments, whether the Awami League or the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the Interim government led by Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus has been dismissing any religious angles to these attacks, often before inquiry into the murders,” he said.
Chief Advisor Yunus, RRAG report said has been building such a narrative to dismiss attacks on Hindu minorities as a disinformation campaign by India.
He (Yunus) went a step further — on January 13, 2026, when he approached the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk for technical assistance to address disinformation campaigns during elections.
“The attacks on the Hindu minorities during the election campaign will be dismissed as “disinformation campaign” in otherwise friendly elections between erstwhile alliance partners, the BNP and the Jamaat-e-Islami,” Chakma also said.
The RRAG said that once election campaigning begins on January 22, the minorities, especially the Hindus, will face unprecedented violence because of their religious belief.
These acts of violence against the Hindu minorities will be dismissed as “political violence” as Yunus had dismissed massive attacks on Hindu minorities in August 2024 as attacks on the Awami League.
The RRAG statement said that on January 11, Chief Observer of the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) in Bangladesh, Ivars Ijabs, called for “inclusive” and “participatory” elections involving all small ethnic communities, religious minority groups and regional groups.
In the current atmosphere of systematic attacks, the Hindu minorities are unlikely to be able to participate in the election unless the interim government in Bangladesh recognises the attacks on the Hindu minorities because of their religious belief and take necessary measures to ensure their inclusive participation, the statement added.
The RRAG urged all the stakeholders sending election observers, including the European Union, should intervene with the interim government of Bangladesh to ensure the inclusive participation of Hindu and other minorities, and further monitor acts of violence against indigenous peoples/ethnic communities and religious minority groups during the election process.
According to the RRAG, the minority Hindus murdered are Samir Das and Prolay Chaki on January 11, 2026; Joy Mohapatra on January 10, 2026; Mithun Sarkar and Sarat Mani Chakraborty on January 6, 2026; Rana Pratap Bairagi on January 5, 2026; Khokon Chandra Das on December 31, 2025; Bajendra Biswas on December 29, 2025; Amrit Mondal on December 24 2025; Dipu Chandra Das on December 18,2025; Shanto Chandra Das on December 12, 2025; Jogesh Chandra Roy and Suborna Roy on December 7, 2025; and Prantosh Kormokar and Utpol Sarkar on December 2, 2025.
(IANS)
