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The recent surge of attacks on minorities in Bangladesh has severed the ties amongst India and Bangladesh, where accusations form both sides are made on the issue of treatment of minorities. Another incident involving the brutal killing of a young man, Samir Das, belonging to the Hindu minority has occurred in Bangladesh.
Photo source: Gerd Altmann, via Pixabay, October 4th, 2024.
06-02-2026 | Pauliina Majasaari | Asia Team Researcher, Global Human Rights Defence.
On January 11th, 2026, Samir Das, a young Hindu man, was brutally murdered, as he was beaten and stabbed to death in Daganbhuiyan, in the Feni District, Bangladesh. Samir had left his home on Sunday in his auto-rickshaw but never returned. The family alerted the police upon realising Samir was nowhere to be found. Early Monday morning, locals in Muhuri Bari found Samir’s body soaked in blood in a field. Such an attack interferes gravely with the pivotal human right to life and survival.
According to the police, Samir had been stabbed several times and showed signs of severe assault, suggesting as a pre-planned murder. The perpetrators had stolen Samir’s battery-operated auto-rickshaw after the killing. Samir’s body has been sent for an autopsy, and the police have launched a special operation to identify and arrest the attackers as well as to locate the stolen auto-rickshaw. However, no arrests have been made yet and the police are conducting further investigations into the incident.
Samir was an auto-rickshaw driver, transporting passengers around his community for several years. Friends and neighbours described Samir as a hardworking young man who supported his family through his work. Family members, including siblings and his parents, Kartik Kumar Das and Rina Rani Das are left behind, mourning the death of their eldest son.
The series of attacks on religious minorities, especially Hindus, has severed the ties between Bangladesh and India. India has accused the interim government of Muhammad Yunus of attempts to whitewash the communal intent behind the recent attacks, as well as criticising Bangladesh for its treatment of minorities. In response, Yunus has downplayed the reporting of incidents as attempts to destroy communal harmony through false propaganda and by exaggerating the scale of violence, coming from India.
