In a horrifying incident, a 23-year-old Hindu youth, identified as Chanchal Chandra Bhowmik, was burnt inside his shop while he was sleeping on Friday night, January 23, in Narsingdi, Bangladesh.
The attacker
shut the shop’s shutter, poured petrol, and set the building on fire. Witnesses said the perpetrator remained outside until Chanchal was burned to death and then fled the scene.
Chanchal was the sole breadwinner of his family, caring for his ailing mother, a disabled elder brother, and a younger brother after the death of his father. He had been working at a local garage in Narsingdi for the past six years and was living there.
Local residents and the garage owner described Chanchal as a simple and honest young man with no known enmity. Both the family and neighbors believe the murder was premeditated and may have been motivated by religious hatred.
Similar attacks in the past, including the burning deaths of Dipu Chandra Das and Khokon Chandra Das have created an atmosphere of fear among the Hindu community across the country.
Bengali Hindu businessman, Khokon Das, 50, died after being attacked and set on fire by a mob in Bangladesh’s Shariatpur district on December 31. Das, a small medicine shop owner, was reportedly stabbed, beaten, and doused with petrol before being set on fire while returning home.
Earlier, a mob beat garment worker Dipu Chandra Das to death and set his body ablaze after stripping him naked.
The attack prompted political reactions in India, with the West Bengal unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party describing the killing as part of a broader pattern of violence targeting Bengali Hindus.
