Bangladesh: Police arrests 13 more suspects pertaining to communal violence against Hindus

In a major development in connection with the recent incidents of violence against Hindus in Bangladesh during Durga Puja festivities, the police have arrested 13 more suspects, including a local cleric, according to reports on Monday.

The police reportedly arrested Mamun Mondal - an activist of Islami Chhatra Shibir (the student affiliate of Jamaat-e-Islami), and Omar Faruk - a local cleric, on Sunday. 

Meanwhile, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday said that such communal incidents were being made to tarnish the country’s image. She termed it as the propaganda of certain groups. PM Hasina said that certain groups want to divide the country and are thus conducting unlawful attacks.

"Certain quarters with vested interests are disseminating propaganda aimed at creating a communal divide," Bangladesh PM said, as quoted by PTI. She further said that the incidents could not make Bangladesh ‘go backwards’. However, PM Hasina did not name any particular group of individuals for the chaos.

Earlier, the Bangladesh PM had assured appropriate action against those responsible for the communal violence during Durga Puja. She had said that the ones who held the attacks will be hunted down and given "appropriate punishments."

She had also directed Bangladesh's Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan to take "immediate" action against those involved in the "pre-planned" assaults.

Bangladesh has also planned to fast-track the cases by taking them up at the speedy trial tribunals. The trials will be accelerated as soon as the police submit the preliminary reports, Bangladesh Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anisul Huq said on Sunday at the Bangabandhu International Conference Center in Dhaka. It is to be noted that Bangladesh police have filed at least 72 cases related to the incidents of vandalism since October 13.

Hindu temples attacked in Bangladesh on Dussehra 

At least 8 people were killed while several others were injured in multiple cases of communal violence during the Durga Puja festivities in Bangladesh. Reports stated that violence broke out on Wednesday when devotees were celebrating Durga Puja, a widely celebrated religious festival of the Hindu community in Bangladesh. 

In Cumilla, at least 50 people were left injured as a group of hardliners clashed with the police in the Nanua Dighirpar area after rumours of a communal incident surfaced. Earlier, the Vishva Hindu Parishad demanded that a fact-finding team of Indian parliamentarians be sent to Bangladesh for a probe into the recent incidents of violence against Hindu minorities. 

(With PTI Inputs)