Police are looking for the criminals who vandalised and set fire to the idols of a Hindu temple named Sarvajanin Sri Sri Mahasmashan Kali and Shiva Mandir in the hilly village of Jangal Salimpur in Salimpur Union of Sitakunda, Chittagong.
Faujdarhat Police Outpost Inspector Sohel Rana said that a group of miscreants committed the incident to occupy the temple site. The police have identified them. If the matter is confirmed after further investigation, the criminals will be arrested.
The temple committee said that the incident took place at around 3am on Sunday. Upon receiving information, Faujdarhat police outpost members visited the scene.
A general diary was filed with the Sitakunda police station on behalf of the temple committee.
Temple committee president Amar Majumder said that the temple is a tin shed structure with a Kali idol inside. The miscreants took the idol out of the temple and threw it on the adjacent land, and broke it. Later, they set the temple on fire.
He suspects that a group of miscreants burned the temple to occupy the land.
Local and international rights groups, the Awami League, and other political parties have expressed concern over the systematic attacks on minorities and their religious establishments, looting, intimidation and forced deportation since the August 5 changeover.
The Jamaat-controlled interim government led by Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus does not recognise the attacks as communal but tends to trivialise them by saying that they occur due to political rivalry or local disputes.
Moreover, while awarding impunity for the attackers and hate-mongers, the government has been using illegal means to keep Hindu leader Chinmoy Krishna Das in jail on fictitious cases for demanding justice for the attacks, compensation, and protection.
According to the daily Prothom Alo investigations, at least 1,068 structures of the minority communities, mostly Hindus, came under mob attack from August 5-20. The newspaper confirmed that 502 of the victims were linked to the Awami League, implying that the other incidents were acts of communal violence.
The United Nations, the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) have also voiced concerns over the communal attacks and demanded their protection.
Arson attack in Jashore
Recently, the arson attack on a Hindu neighbourhood in Jashore shocked the country. The mainstream media also kept mum for several days.
After the BBC Bangla ran a complete story, the government hastily explained that it was caused by political rivalry in the area and refused to take due legal measures.
On May 22, miscreants killed Tariqul Islam, the leader of the Krishak Dal of Debadhi, at the house of Piltu Biswas in Dahor Moshiahati village of Abhaynagar upazila of Jessore district.
Local people said that Tariqul was in a conversation with some other people regarding the lease of a fish enclosure before the murder that took place around 5:30pm.
Soon after, some miscreants attacked the Hindu houses and looted all the valuables, vandalised and set fire to them, leaving 20 families homeless.
The miscreants also physically abused most of the women.
Currently, the male members of almost all the families have left the area and are in hiding. The family members said that their land documents, national identity cards, and education certificates of their sons and daughters were burned to ashes.
On May 27, the central leaders of the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council visited the scene. They also requested the district police superintendent to quickly arrest those responsible for the violence and bring them to justice, ensure appropriate punishment, provide compensation to the helpless victims, and recover important documents that were burned.
The Council leaders expressed their anger over the fact that while one person was arrested in the murder case, no miscreants could be arrested in the arson case, lodged by Kalpana Biswas on behalf of the Matua community.
Kali temple torched in Manikganj
A Kali temple in Ghuna-Sadorpur village of Garpara Union in Manikganj Sadar Upazila was set ablaze by unidentified miscreants in the early hours of May 27.
The fire destroyed the temple and the idol of Goddess Kali.
Jugal Chandra Das, president of the temple committee, stated that the fire was set around 3am and spread rapidly.
He said it was the first time in 50 years they had experienced such an incident. “It was a planned attack. We demand justice and a thorough investigation.”
Superintendent of Police Yasmin Khatun, Additional Superintendent of Police (Sadar Circle) Md Salahuddin and members of the army visited the scene. Members of various intelligence agencies and law enforcement agencies were with them.
Md Salahuddin said that they are seriously investigating the matter.
However, there has been no progress in the investigation in the last week.
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