Bangladesh interim government to support family of Hindu worker lynched in Mymensingh

The Bangladesh interim government has said it will take responsibility for the welfare of the family of a Hindu garment factory worker who was lynched by a mob last week following allegations of blasphemy.

Education adviser C R Abrar on Tuesday visited the family of 25-year-old Dipu Das, who was beaten to death and his body set on fire on December 18 in Mymensingh. Describing the killing as a “brutal crime which has no excuse”, Abrar said the state would ensure care for Das’s wife, child and parents.

“The state has taken responsibility for looking after Dipu Das’s child, wife and parents,” Abrar told reporters after meeting the bereaved family.

He said he had earlier spoken to Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, who asked him to convey the government’s “profound sorrow and deepest condolences” to the family.

According to local media reports, Das’s father, Rabi Chandra Das, urged the authorities to ensure justice for his son and outlined the family’s plight during the meeting.

In a separate statement, Yunus’s office reaffirmed that financial and welfare assistance would be extended to the family and said the relevant authorities would remain in close contact with them in the coming days. Twelve people have so far been arrested in connection with the killing, officials said.

The interim government also issued a strong warning against mob violence. In a statement released by Yunus’s press wing, it said that “allegations, rumours or differences of belief can never excuse violence”, and stressed that no individual had the right to take the law into their own hands.

Reaffirming its commitment to the rule of law, the statement added that the authority to investigate alleged offences and deliver justice through due process rested solely with the state.

The killing of Das triggered widespread protests by garment workers, students and rights groups in Dhaka and other parts of Bangladesh. India also expressed concern over the incident.

The mob attack came amid a period of heightened unrest following the death of Sharif Osman Hadi, a leader of the radical right-wing cultural group Inqilab Mancha, who died in a Singapore hospital six days after being shot by masked gunmen in Dhaka. Hadi had been a prominent figure in last year’s anti-government protests that led to the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government.

After his death, fresh violence was reported in Bangladesh, with mobs setting fire to the offices of leading newspapers The Daily Star and Prothom Alo, as well as the premises of cultural organisations Chhayanot and Udichi Shilpi Goshti, both founded in the 1960s.

With PTI inputs