FACT SHEET: Escalating Attacks on Minorities and Collapse of Protective Mechanisms in Post-Hasina Bangladesh

FACT SHEET: Escalating Attacks on Minorities and Collapse of Protective Mechanisms in Post-Hasina Bangladesh
(Prepared for global human rights and policy actors)

---

1. Political Context & Timeline

• On 5 August 2024, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled Bangladesh after weeks of nationwide, student-led protests known as the “Monsoon Revolution”, which had already left hundreds dead in a brutal security force crackdown.(Al Jazeera)

• A military-backed interim government led by Muhammad Yunus took power, promising reform but inheriting a deeply politicised security sector with a long record of impunity.(Al Jazeera)

• In the power vacuum and political realignment that followed, Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, indigenous peoples and some Muslim minorities (e.g. Sufis) have faced intensified violence, often framed as “reprisals” due to their perceived association with the former Awami League government.(Al Jazeera)

---

2. Scale of Violence Since August 2024

2.1 Quantitative picture from media-reported monitoring

The Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council (BHBCUC) and allied groups have been the primary trackers of communal attacks, with their statistics repeatedly cited in national and international media:

• 4–20 August 2024: BHBCUC recorded 2,010 incidents of “communal violence” in the immediate aftermath of Hasina’s ouster.(Al Jazeera)

• 21 August–31 December 2024: BHBCUC reported an additional 174 incidents, bringing total documented attacks in that period to 2,184, including 23 deaths and 9 rapes of minorities, as well as widespread arson, vandalism and looting.(AP News)

• August 2024–March 2025: A terrorism-monitoring portal citing BHBCUC reported 2,326 cases of attacks against minorities in this period.(satp.org)

• August 2024–June 2025: At a July 2025 press conference covered by The Daily Star, BHBCUC stated that 2,442 incidents targeting minorities were recorded between 4 August 2024 and 30 June 2025.(The Daily Star)

Even allowing for overlap and contested classifications (political vs explicitly “communal” motives), press-reported data consistently show well over 2,000 incidents against minorities in less than a year after the Monsoon Revolution.

2.2 2025 snapshot (January–June)

According to BHBCUC figures presented at the Jatiya Press Club and reported by The Daily Star:(The Daily Star)

• 258 incidents against minorities in the first half of 2025, including:

  • 27 murders

  • 20 incidents of violence against women, including rape

  • 59 attacks on temples and other places of worship (vandalism, looting, arson)

  • 87 attacks on homes and businesses

  • 12 cases of forced occupation of houses, land, or commercial property

  • 21 arrests or incidents of torture following blasphemy allegations

  • 12 attacks on indigenous communities

  • 16 other incidents, such as abduction, disruption of religious ceremonies and intimidation

Separately, a security-studies portal summarising a nenews.in report noted:(satp.org)

• 142 violent incidents targeting Hindus between January and March 2025, including:

  • Murders, rapes and destruction of property

  • 50 incidents in March alone, with 5 murders, 8 recorded rapes, 13 temples vandalised, and 4 attacks on indigenous communities

3. Patterns of Targeting and Modus Operandi

3.1 Who is being targeted?

Media and online investigations highlight a broad group of victims:

• Hindus (by far the most frequently targeted minority), often stereotyped as Awami League supporters or “pro-India”.(Al Jazeera)

• Buddhists and Christians, including churches destroyed as noted by Sheikh Hasina from exile and reported by Al Jazeera.(Al Jazeera)

• Indigenous communities, with multiple attacks on villages and lands documented in BHBCUC statistics and regional portals.(The Daily Star)

• Sufi Muslims and other non-conforming Muslims, targeted by extremist outfits such as Hizb-ut-Tehrir, Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Chhatra Shibir, according to SATP’s terrorism updates.(satp.org)

3.2 Types of attacks

Press, electronic media, and online portals converge on a set of recurrent abuses:

• Mob violence over alleged “blasphemy”:

  • In Sunamganj’s Monglargaon (Dowarabazar), an allegation about a Hindu youth’s Facebook comment triggered a mob that looted and destroyed at least 20 Hindu homes and vandalised a temple complex; Hindu families fled into forests or to relatives, recounting severe trauma to Al Jazeera.(Al Jazeera)

• Looting and arson of homes and businesses, especially tin-roofed houses and small shops owned by Hindus and other minorities.(Al Jazeera)

• Desecration and vandalism of temples and churches: dozens of cases documented in BHBCUC data for late 2024 and the first half of 2025; Amnesty and other groups had flagged similar patterns in previous years, indicating continuity rather than a new phenomenon.(The Daily Star)

• Sexual violence and gender-based attacks: at least 9 rapes in late 2024 and 20 incidents involving women in early 2025 in BHBCUC data, often in the context of wider mob attacks.(AP News)

• Land grabbing and forced occupation: reports of minorities’ land being seized in the post-transition chaos, highlighted by Hindu activists speaking to Al Jazeera and reflected in BHBCUC’s category of “forceful occupation” cases.(Al Jazeera)

4. State Inaction, Complicity and Collapse of Protective Mechanisms

4.1 Legacy of impunity in policing and security forces

• Human Rights Watch’s 2025 report “After the Monsoon Revolution” describes a security sector with a long history of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and political policing, where promotions and postings are often tied to political loyalty and bribery.(hrw.org)

• The report cites a UN Committee Against Torture review describing the police as a “state within a state”, operating with “impunity and zero accountability”, and notes that families of victims of enforced disappearance have historically been unable to register cases naming security forces.(hrw.org)

Although this part of the record predates Hasina’s fall, the same policing culture now shapes the state’s response to attacks on minorities.

4.2 Interim government’s mixed response

• The interim government has acknowledged some attacks but frequently framed them as “politically motivated” rather than communal, and has publicly accused foreign and Indian media of “exaggerating” the scale of violence.(Al Jazeera)

• According to an OHCHR fact-finding report, the interim authorities claimed around 100 arrests in relation to attacks on religious and indigenous communities, but UN investigators concluded that minorities still face serious risks and that protection efforts remain inadequate.(HCHR)

• In January 2025, BHBCUC held a Dhaka press conference (reported by AP) accusing the interim government of failing to protect minorities, misusing state institutions to suppress them, and disputing their data instead of addressing violence.(AP News)

4.3 Police failure and selective enforcement

Media reports point to systemic failures in policing:

• Delayed or absent intervention:

  • In Monglargaon (Sunamganj), Al Jazeera documented three to four hours of mob violence before security forces intervened, by which point numerous homes and shops had been destroyed.(Al Jazeera)

• Failure to prevent foreseeable mob attacks:

  • Multiple reports describe mobs gathering after social-media allegations, while local authorities and police did not prevent attacks on homes and temples despite evident risk.(Al Jazeera)

• Reluctance to hold perpetrators accountable vs harsh treatment of minority leaders:

  • AP and Reuters report that Hindu leaders such as Chinmoy/ Krishna Das Prabhu, who organised rallies demanding protection for minorities, were arrested on sedition charges and repeatedly denied bail; protests around his detention led to further deaths and arrests.(AP News)

  • UK parliamentary debates and international media have noted that those who attacked temples and minority neighbourhoods have often not been apprehended or charged, even as minority activists face serious charges.(hansard.parliament.uk)

• Documented police refusal or inaction:

  • Post-2024 articles (e.g. feature reporting on minority activists and pro-protest public figures) describe victims being unable to register cases, with police limiting complaints to “General Diaries” or refusing to name powerful suspects, illustrating a pattern of de facto denial of remedy.(newsghana.com.gh)

5. Long-Term Trauma and Community Impact

Press features and online reports vividly describe deep, long-term psychological and social harm:

• Survivors of mob attacks in Sunamganj told Al Jazeera that families fled to forests or relatives’ homes, leaving villages half-empty and children terrified to return. Phrases like “our lives don’t matter” and “this will leave a scar for a long time” recur in testimonies.(Al Jazeera)

• Repeated displacement, property destruction and land grabs have eroded economic security for many minority families, forcing them to rely on informal support networks or contemplate migration.(Al Jazeera)

• USCIRF’s 2025 factsheet and European/UK asylum guidance highlight widespread fear among religious minorities to openly practice their faith, report abuses, or pursue redress through state institutions, citing interviews with community leaders and victims.(uscirf.gov)

6. Structural Failures in Protective Systems

Drawing on media and portal-based analysis (HRW, OHCHR, USCIRF, EUAA, UK CPIN and regional outlets), several systemic weaknesses underpin the crisis:

1. Politicised, unaccountable police and security forces

   • Longstanding patterns of politicisation, impunity and abuse have not been structurally reformed under the interim government, undermining public trust and deterring minority victims from seeking help.(hrw.org)

2. Weak oversight institutions

   • The National Human Rights Commission and internal police oversight bodies lack independence and enforcement powers; victims and civil society cannot easily track or challenge outcomes.(hrw.org)

3. Lack of specialised protection mechanisms for minorities

   • Minority activists have long demanded a minority protection law, a minority ministry and a dedicated commission or tribunal; despite being reiterated in large rallies and reported by Al Jazeera and local media, these demands remain unfulfilled.(Al Jazeera)

4. Constitutional uncertainty and rhetoric on secularism

   • Statements by senior officials about dropping “secularism” from the constitution have intensified fears that state neutrality is eroding, which community leaders warn would send a clear message that religious minorities “no longer matter to the state”.(Al Jazeera)

5. Information warfare and disinformation

   • While Indian and other foreign media have at times exaggerated or fabricated claims, as documented by Rumor Scanner and Al Jazeera, this has paradoxically increased anti-minority hostility inside Bangladesh and provided the interim authorities with a pretext to dismiss genuine reports of abuse.(Al Jazeera)

7. Key Takeaways for International Policy-Makers

Based solely on press media, electronic media and online portals, the following core findings emerge:

• Scale: Multiple independent outlets reproducing BHBCUC data, along with regional monitoring portals, indicate over 2,400 recorded incidents against minorities between August 2024 and June 2025, including at least 50+ murders and dozens of rapes and temple desecrations.(AP News)

• Pattern: Attacks show clear patterns of collective punishment, religiously framed mob violence and opportunistic land grabbing, often following political upheaval or social-media accusations.(Al Jazeera)

• State failure: Despite some arrests, law enforcement is widely perceived as unwilling or unable to protect minorities, with instances of delayed intervention, failure to prosecute attackers, and harsher action against minority leaders than against perpetrators.(AP News)

• Systemic roots: The crisis is inseparable from the structural impunity and politicisation of Bangladesh’s security forces, as extensively documented by HRW and other portals, and from an incomplete reform agenda under the interim government.(hrw.org)

• Human impact: Survivor testimonies and media features reveal long-term trauma, displacement and fear among minority communities, who increasingly doubt that the state will act as a neutral guarantor of rights.(Al Jazeera)

---

Presented by

Minhaz Samad Chowdhury
Independent Human Rights Defender (Bangladesh)
Focus: State Violence and Religious Minority Rights in Bangladesh
Executant, Center for Bangladesh Digital Services (BDS) – 🌐 www.bds.vision
Joint Secretary, READO Bangladesh – 🌐 www.readobd.org
📧 Email: rightsmanbest@gmail.com

---

• AP News
• Reuters
• AP News
• AP News
• The Guardian