29-Year-Old Hindu Auto-Rickshaw Driver Beaten to Death in Bangladesh, 'Blood-Soaked' Body Recovered

In another case of continuing atrocities against minorities in Bangladesh, a Hindu man was beaten and hacked to death in Daganbhuiyan, Feni on the night of January 11.

The man has been identified as Samir Kumar Das. He was 29 years old and was an auto-rickshaw driver by profession.

According to reports, Das's blood-soaked body was found near a hospital.

The miscreants took-away his CNG autorickshaw after killing him, as per reports.

His family members are inconsolable. 

Some reports indicate that his mobile phone, cash, and gold chain were not taken, ruling out robbery as a motive and pointing instead to a planned murder.

He is survived by his wife and their two-year-old child, according to reports.

Police officials suspect it to be "a planned murder".

India raises concern over atrocities against minorities in Bangladesh

Amid the surge of violence against minorities in Bangladesh, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal highlighted the need to deal with these incidents "swiftly and firmly".

"We continue to witness a disturbing pattern of recurring attacks on minorities as well as their homes and businesses by extremists in Bangladesh. Such communal incidents need to be dealt with swiftly and firmly," the MEA Spokesperson said.

"We have also observed a troubling tendency to attribute such incidents to personal rivalries, political differences, or extraneous reasons. Such disregard only emboldens the extremists and the perpetrators of such crimes and deepens the sense of fear and insecurity among minorities," he added.

As the date of the 13th National Parliamentary Election in Bangladesh draws nearer, communal violence is increasing at an alarming rate. In December alone, at least 51 incidents of violence were reported.

These included 10 murders, 10 cases of theft and robbery, 23 incidents involving the occupation of homes, business establishments, temples and land, looting and arson, four cases of arrest and torture on false allegations of religious defamation and being "agents of RAW", one attempted rape, and three incidents of physical assault, the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council said in a statement. The trend of violence has continued into the first week of January this year.

Earlier also, during the press briefing on December 26, MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, "The unremitting hostility against minorities in Bangladesh, including Hindus, Christians and Buddhists at the hands of extremists is a matter of grave concern. We condemn the recent gruesome killing of a Hindu youth in Mymensingh, and expect that the perpetrators of the crime would be brought to justice. Over 2,900 incidents of violence against minorities, including cases of killings, arsons, land grab have been documented by independent sources during the tenure of the interim government. These incidents cannot be brushed aside as mere media exaggerations or dismissed as political violence."