Touhidi Janata destroys Hindu village in Rangpur over blasphemy allegations

Police have arrested a 17-year-old Hindu teenager in Rangpur after a mob of radical Islamists alleged that he had posted insulting the Prophet (PBUH) on Facebook.

After his arrest, local Muslims vandalised the teenager’s house and 15 houses of the Hindu community on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon due to the inaction of the Bangladesh Army and police members.

The incident took place in the Betgari Union of Gangachara Upazila of Rangpur.

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Police said that the teenager is a third-year student at a private polytechnic institute.

Touhidi Janata created hype in the area on Saturday afternoon over his Facebook post. After receiving the information, the police went to the teenager’s house in the evening and detained him.

After taking him to the police station around 8pm, the mob took out a procession demanding justice. Around 9pm, when the procession passed in front of the teenager’s house, they looted and vandalised his house.

Around 10:30pm, they looted and vandalised the house of the teenager’s grandfather.

Al Emran, officer-in-charge (OC) of Gangachara police station, said they detained the teenager after receiving a complaint. Later, a case was filed under the Cyber Security Act, and he was sent to the Combined Child Rehabilitation Centre on Sunday afternoon.

On Sunday, thousands of people went to the village again and started attacking houses around 3:30pm in the presence of the army and police personnel.

The affected people of the area are Paresh Chandra, Dharani Kanta Mohanta, Dhananjay Kumar, Atul Chandra, Kamala Kanta, and Dulal Chandra.

Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Mahmud Hasan Mridha went to talk to the agitated crowd at Khilalganj Bazar around 6pm on Sunday. He said: โ€œThere are law enforcement forces at the scene. We are trying to stop them. Now the situation is normal.โ€

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