Activists wearing masks depicting Hindu goddess Kali hold placards during a protest against religious violence against the Hindu community in Bangladesh, in Dhaka on Nov. 4, 2021. (Photo: AFP)
Tension of a possible sectarian riot between Muslims and Hindus prevailed in the central Bangladeshi district of Faridpur after alleged mob lynching of two Muslims by Hindu villagers over an arson attack on a temple on April 18.
The local administration deployed additional security forces to quell possible violence stemming from the lynching, according to police and local community leaders.
Siblings Ashraful Khan, 20, and Arshadul Khan, 18, both of them construction workers, died after they were held hostage and beaten by a mob in Krishnanagar, a Hindu-majority village in Modhukhali of Faridpur, confirmed Rebeka Parvin, a local police officer.
The deceased were working as masons in a primary school near the temple dedicated to Hindu goddess Kali.
Since the incident, two local union councils which cover dozens of local villages, home to about 50,000 people, have been covered in a security blanket, said Zahidul Hasan, chairman of Nowapara union council, a local government body.
“The entire area is covered in a security blanket with almost all high local government officials present,” Hasan told UCA News after attending weekly Muslim prayer in a mosque on April 19.
He said the security forces were on high alert to avoid any riot-like situation as fear spread that local Muslims might attack Hindus following Friday prayers.
In the past, several attacks targeting Hindus in Bangladesh took place after Muslim gatherings at mosques for Friday prayers turned into frenzied mobs.
The latest incident took place a day before the national election kicked off in neighboring Hindu-majority India, about 150 kilometers from Faridpur.
Religiously charged political violence and deaths are common both in Muslim-majority Bangladesh and India during the election period.
The news of the temple arson attack angered local Hindus and a mob of over a thousand people held up the masons working at the primary school, said Shah Asaduzzaman, chairman of the local Dumain union council.
The mob held all four Muslim workers hostage for two hours and beat them up before they were rescued.
Eleven policemen were injured in clashes with the mob, police sources said, adding that police fired blank shots to disperse the mob.
The two siblings were pronounced dead when they were rushed to a hospital in a critical condition.
Over 90 percent of Bangladesh’s estimated 172 million people are Muslims. Hindus make up the largest religious minority group accounting for about eight percent.
Hindu groups routinely allege various forms of persecution including harassment, hate speeches, and violence by Muslims.
