Mob damages homes belonging to minorities in Bangladesh; govt orders repair works

Dhaka: At least a dozen homes belonging to the members of the Hindu community were damaged by a mob over the weekend in northwestern Bangladesh, according to officials and media reports.

The office of the interim government's Chief Adviser, Muhammad Yunus, on Tuesday said orders have been issued to repair the houses damaged in the violence in Gangachara upazila of Rangpur.

The violence erupted on Saturday after a 17-year-old Hindu youth allegedly made derogatory remarks against the Prophet on social media, Bangla language daily Prothom Alo reported.

Police have arrested the teenager, a third-semester student at a private polytechnic institute, the paper said.

Citing Gangachara police station officer-in-charge Al Emran, the paper said the police received a complaint that a boy had posted offensive content on Facebook.

"Once the allegations were found to be true, he was detained around 8:30 pm on Saturday and brought to the police station," he said, adding that he was sent to a juvenile rehabilitation centre following a court order.

Following the incident, enraged locals carried out attacks and vandalised several homes belonging to members of the Hindu community on Saturday night and again on Sunday afternoon. The situation was brought under control by the army, according to the paper.

Yunus’ office said 12 Hindu households were damaged in the violence.

"Three families, including that of the detained boy and his uncle, are staying at their relatives’ homes at a neighbouring village,” the chief adviser’s office said.

"The repair works of the Hindu households will start from Tuesday under the supervision of the district and concerned sub-district administrations,” it said in a statement.

The male members of 19 of the 22 affected Hindu families are now living at their homes, but the female members were staying elsewhere since their houses were damaged, it said, quoting Rangpur’s deputy commissioner Mohammad Rabiul Faisal.

It said local authorities were trying to identify the people involved in the violence, and legal actions would be taken against them.   “The local civil social leaders are working with the administration and police to restore harmony in the neighbourhood," it added.