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Hundreds of people from three villages have been accused of carrying out a fierce attack on the minority Hindu community in the Naogram village of Salla upazila in Sunamganj, Bangladesh. According to news reports from the area, the attack that took place on Wednesday morning, damaged dozens of houses. The attack reportedly came in the wake of a “Facebook post by a Hindu youth against Hefazat-e-Islam joint secretary general Mamunul Haque,” stated news reports.

Allegedly, it was members, and followers of the Hefazat-e-Islam who attacked the homes of Hindus in the area. According to news reports, members of the “Hindu community handed over the youth, Jhuman Das Apan, 28, an employee of a private firm, to the local police” for allegedly uploading the contentious post on Facebook.

Two separate cases were filed on Thursday accusing hundreds of people in connection with the attack on Hindu homes allegedly by some Hefazat-e-Islam supporters in Sunamganj's Shalla upazila reported Dhaka Tribune.

One of the cases was lodged by the police, accusing some 1,500 unnamed people, and the other by Habibpur union parishad Chairman Vivekananda Majumder against 70-80 named and around 1,500 unnamed persons. Majumder said, “The attack has upset us, but we are law-abiding people. That is why I filed a case on behalf of the villagers.” He also demanded that the case be handed over to a speedy trial tribunal. BT reported that while Shalla police station Officer-in-Charge Nazmul Haque confirmed the case, he expressed his inability to reveal the names of the accused in the interest of investigation.

According to news reports Sunamganj district deputy commissioner and district magistrate Zakir Hossain said the primary inquiry revealed  that the supporters of the Hefazat-e-Islami carried out the attack. He said that additional forces were deployed at villages in Dirai and Salla upazilas to avoid further trouble, ‘We assured that the villagers that the perpetrators would be brought to justice after police investigation.”

Brief background of the case

The unrest allegedly stems from a meeting organised by Hafazat-e-Islam chief Junaid Babunagari and his other leaderships, on Monday. At this Islamic gathering in Dirai upazila it was announced that the Indian prime minister Narendra Modi would not be welcomed in Bangladesh, stated media reports. Modi was scheduled to join the golden jubilee celebration of Bangladesh’s Independence on March 26.

Following this, a 28 year old man identified as Jhuman Das Apan, a resident of Naogram village, allegedly made a derogatory Facebook post about Hefazat-e-Islam's Joint Secretary General Maulana Mamunul Haque on Tuesday night. After the post went viral, police had detained him with the help of locals on the same night. But that did not prevent a series of attacks on homes of the Hindu minority community. The Newage Bangladesh news portal reports that several Hefazat-e-Islam followers vandalised a number of Hindu houses in Sunamganj after information about the FB post surfaced. Several hundred people, hailing from three villages: Santashpur, Natni and Chandrapur villages of Dirai upazila reportedly joined forces to attack over 50 houses of Hindus in the Naogram village. They allegedly ransacked houses, looted valuables and damaged idols inside the family temples of the villagers, in an attack that lasted several hours. However, no casualties were reported.

The news reports stated that according to witnesses, the attackers damaged the house of Habibpur union council chairman Bibekananda Majumdar Bakul. Bibekananda told New Age that they were busy in the upazila headquarters celebrating the birth centenary programme of the country’s founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Ratan Chandra Das, a businessman who handed over Hindu youth to the authorities, told New Age over the phone that a photoshopped image of Hefazat leader Mamunul Haque with shoes was shared from the profile of the youth. "We handed the youth over the police. Even after this, the villagers carried out the attack," said Ratan.

Sunamganj district police superintendent Mizanur Rahman told the media that no arrests had been made as the police were preparing to file a case against the perpetrators. Mizanur accused the Hindu youth for spreading hate speech on social media as a "part of his regular activities". According to news reports, Naogram residents hid to save their lives when they sensed trouble. The local administration and police dispersed the attackers who were allegedly armed with sticks, sharp weapons and were seen wearing Islamic caps and or a bandana tied around their heads, stated news reports. 

Meanwhile, Hefazat-e-Islam central unit organising secretary Mawlana Azizul Haque Islamabadi denied the allegation of having any association with the attack. He alleged that the “villagers carried out the attack after having been agitated by the Facebook post of a Hindu youth targeting Islam, the rituals associated with it, and Hafazat leaders.”

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