Dhaka, Dec 20: The Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities (HRCBM) on Saturday asserted that blasphemy allegations have become a deadly instrument of persecution in the country — one that increasingly places religious minorities in mortal danger.
The rights body stated that this reality culminated in one of the most horrifying acts of communal violence in recent months when Hindu youth Dipu Chandra Das was brutally killed in a mob lynching on Thursday night in Bhaluka Upazila of Mymensingh district over false blasphemy accusations, with his body subsequently set ablaze.
Citing eyewitness testimonies, the HRCBM mentioned that Das may have been alive when he was set on fire, and that police intervention to save him was either delayed or missing at a critical moment.
“The killing of Dipu Chandra Das is not an isolated incident. It reflects a systemic and accelerating pattern in which blasphemy allegations are weaponised to terrorise, dispossess, and eliminate minority citizens,” the HRCBM stated.
The HRBM stressed that the brutal killing of Das not only violated individual criminal statutes but also breached the very foundations of Bangladesh’s constitutional order and its binding international obligations.
“The deliberate lynching and subsequent burning of a human being—whether alive or post-mortem—constitute grave crimes in themselves. To isolate debate solely around the act of burning is therefore legally and morally inadequate; the entire sequence represents a total collapse of the rule of law,” it added.
The rights body stated that this was not “mob justice” but an extrajudicial killing carried out under a false religious pretext, intended not only to kill one man, but to terrorise an entire minority community into submission and silence.
“Such acts represent serious social and institutional decay. When repeated with impunity, they do not remain isolated crimes; they become signals, teaching both perpetrators and victims that minority lives are dispensable, and that violence will be tolerated or excused,” the HRCBM noted.
Earlier this month, the rights body documented 73 blasphemy-related incidents in 32 districts from January to November 2025, warning that Bangladesh is facing a deepening human rights crisis driven by the misuse of blasphemy allegations.
According to the HRCBM, a significant number of these cases involved fabricated or manipulated digital evidence, including hacked social media accounts, fake screenshots, impersonation, or unverified online posts, often leading to arrests or mob violence without any cyber-forensic verification.
It added that Das became one of the most tragic symbols of this pattern—where an allegation alone was enough to destroy a life.
Condemning the brutal killing, the rights body said, “He was accused without proof, removed from his workplace, lynched by a mob, and set on fire. Whether death occurred before or during the burning, the meaning of the act remains unchanged: impunity has emboldened brutality, and minority lives have been rendered expendable.”
–IANS