Hindu Temple & several houses vandalised by mob in Bangladesh over Facebook post

|HT|

A mob reportedly attacked a Hindu temple and vandalised several houses belonging to the Hindu community in Bangladesh's Narail district. The violence in Dighalia Upazila took place on Friday evening over a young Hindu boy's Facebook post, local media reported. Dhaka Tribune reported that the mob has grocery stores and several homes of the Hindu community.

The angry villagers alleged that the boy hurt their religious sentiments with his social media post.

Reports indicate as tension mounted over the post after Jum’a prayers on Friday, a group of Muslims demonstrated outside their home in the afternoon. They attacked the homes later.

The mob also broke into Sahapara temple and broke the furniture inside and vandalized several shops.

Lohagarh police station inspector Naran Chandra Pal said the incident had caused extreme tension in the area. The police had to fire warning shots to disperse the mob, said police inspector Haran Chandra Paul.

Narail superintendent of police Prabir Kumar Roy said the law enforcers were working to keep the situation under control. "We're investigating the incident. Those responsible for the violence will face action. The situation is normal for now," he said.

Attacks on religious minorities in Muslim-majority Bangladesh are increasingly taking place, and many of them happened after rumours or fake posts spread through social media.

According to a report by legal rights group Ain O Salish Kendra, 3,679 attacks were carried out on the Hindu community in Bangladesh between January 2013 and September 2021.

(Except for the headline and the pictorial description, this story has not been edited by THE DEN staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)