Members of 'Hindu Jagran Manch' stage a protest over the lynching of a Hindu man Dipu Chandra Das in Bangladesh, near Bangladesh Assistant High Commission, in Agartala.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: India is keeping watch on the situation in Bangladesh and has called for the punishment of the perpetrators of the barbaric killing of a youth in the neighbouring country for making an "insulting" comment about Islam, although the allegation was proved to be false in the subsequent investigation by the law-enforcement agency.
New Delhi on Sunday also suspended the operations of a visa application receiving and processing facility in Chittagong in Bangladesh, in view of the recent violent protest near the Assistant High Commission of India in the port city of the country over the murder of radical leader Sharif Osman Hadi.
As Hadi’s death prompted the radical organisations in Bangladesh to intensify the campaign against the country’s former prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, and her Awami League party, as well as India, New Delhi, over the past few days, temporarily suspended operations of some of its visa application and processing facilities in Dhaka, Khulna and Rajshahi. The facility in the country’s capital, however, reopened later.
After Hadi, the spokesperson of the Inquilab Manch, succumbed to his injuries at a hospital in Singapore on December 18, violent protests erupted across Bangladesh. While angry mobs set some newspaper offices ablaze and vandalised cultural institutions, a gang of radical Islamists killed Dipu Chandra Das of the minority Hindu community at Bhaluka in Mymensingh Division of the country. Das, 25, was working at a garment factory and was accused of making a blasphemous comment about Islam. He was hanged upside down from a tree and burned alive. The video of his brutal killing had gone viral on social media.
“India continues to keep a close watch on the evolving situation in Bangladesh,” Randhir Jaiswal, the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, stated in New Delhi on Sunday. “Our officials remain in touch with the authorities in Bangladesh and have conveyed to them our strong concerns about the attacks on minorities. We have also urged that the perpetrators of the barbaric killing of (Dipu Chandra) Das be brought to justice”.
A group of 20-25 people protested in front of the High Commission of Bangladesh in New Delhi over the atrocities on the minority Hindus in the neighbouring country – an issue the Government of India has been flagging in its engagements with the interim government in Dhaka since the collapse of the Awami League government led by Hasina in August 2024.
“There was no attempt to breach the fence or create a security situation at any time. The police stationed at the spot dispersed the group after a few minutes. Visual evidence of these events is available publicly for all to see,” Jaiswal said, dismissing misleading reports about the incidents in some media portals of Bangladesh.
India is committed to ensuring the safety of foreign missions in its territory in accordance with the Vienna Convention, added the MEA spokesperson.
A radical organisation, “July Oikya Mancha”, staged a protest march near New Delhi’s diplomatic mission in Dhaka on December 17, demanding that India hand over to Bangladesh the country’s deposed former prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, and the former interior minister of the erstwhile Awami League government of the state, Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, at the earliest. A court in Dhaka on November 17 last awarded the death sentence to Hasina and Kamal for the “crimes against humanity” committed during the police crackdown on the students and youths, who had protested against reservations in government jobs in July-August 2024, leading to the fall of the Awami League government.
Riaz Hamidullah, the High Commissioner of Bangladesh to India, was summoned to the Ministry of External Affairs headquarters, where senior officials conveyed to him New Delhi’s “strong concerns” over the deteriorating security environment in Bangladesh
After the attack on Hadi, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Muhammad Yunus’s interim government in Bangladesh accused Sheikh Hasina and other Awami League leaders of organising terrorist attacks in the country from India. Dhaka alleged that India’s territory was being used for activities detrimental to the interests of Bangladesh. Pranay Verma, India’s High Commissioner to Bangladesh, was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the neighbouring country’s government on December 14.
Dhaka conveyed to New Delhi its “serious concern” over Sheikh Hasina’s continued public statements, which allegedly encouraged her supporters to resort to violence to disrupt the upcoming parliamentary elections in Bangladesh in February 2026.