Twelve people were arrested in West Bengal’s Kolkata on Friday for protesting against the atrocities against minorities in Bangladesh. Pro-Hindu activists, who took out a rally and staged a sit-in outside the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission office in Kolkata, were produced before the Alipore police court.
The court granted him bail on a bond of Rs 3,000. “The court has granted him bail on a bond of Rs 3,000,” advocate Chandan Kumar Saha told ANI. Thousands of saffron-clad activists associated with pro-Hindu organizations gathered in Kolkata on Friday and sat on a dharna outside the Deputy High Commission of Bangladesh to protest against the atrocities against minorities in the neighboring country.
Pro-Hindu activists took out a rally, which was also attended by West Bengal opposition leader and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Suvendu Adhikari. They entered the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission premises and spoke to the officials about the atrocities being committed against Hindus. The official demanded an end to the atrocities against Bangladeshi Hindus and warned that the protests would be further intensified if the demands were not met.
On Wednesday, The Daily Star reported that a Hindu youth named Amrit Mandal was beaten to death on charges of extortion in Hosendanga village of Kalimohor union in Rajbari’s Pangsha sub-district. Samrat was rescued in a critical condition after the police immediately reached the spot after receiving information last night.
Mandal’s murder comes just days after Hindu youth Dipu Chandra Das was lynched and burnt by a mob in Bangladesh’s Mymensingh district. Dipu Chandra Das, who worked in a garment factory, was beaten to death by a mob on alleged blasphemy charges and his body was hanged and set on fire on December 18.
The Daily Star quoted Mymensingh Additional Superintendent of Police Abdullah Al Mamun as saying that a factory official had informed Bhaluka police that a group of workers attacked Dipu inside the factory and accused him of making “derogatory remarks about the Prophet Muhammad” in a Facebook post.
However, Mohammad Shamsuzzaman, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB)-14 company commander in Mymensingh, told The Daily Star that investigators did not find any evidence to suggest that the deceased had posted or written anything on Facebook that could hurt religious sentiments. He further said that neither the local residents nor other employees of the garment factory could point to any such activity of the victim.