Shashi Tharoor on Hindu man's lynching in Bangladesh: 'Appreciate Dhaka's condemnation, but...'

Shashi Tharoor

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Saturday termed as “unbearably tragic” the lynching of a Hindu man in Bangladesh over alleged blasphemy.

The deceased, identified as 25-year-old Dipu Chandra Das, was a factory worker in Mymensingh city, the Bangla Tribune news portal reported on Friday.

“An unbearably tragic incident amid the mob rule that is raging across Bangladesh. While mourning the loss of this poor Hindu man at the hands of unspeakable criminals, I appreciate the condemnation issued by the Government of Bangladesh, but must ask them what they are doing to punish the murderers, and what steps they are taking to ensure that such incidents do not recur?” Tharoor wrote on X.

The interim government of Bangladesh, in a statement on Thursday, condemned the lynching of the Hindu man in Mymensingh city, stating that there is no space for such violence in the new Bangladesh. "The perpetrators of this heinous crime will not be spared," it added.

Das was first beaten up by a mob outside the factory over blasphemy allegations on Thursday night and hanged from a tree, police said.

On Friday, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi also reacted to the incident and urged the Indian government to raise the issue of the safety of Hindu, Christian, and Buddhist minorities with the neighbouring country.

“The news of the brutal murder of Hindu youth Deepu Chandra Das by a mob in Bangladesh is extremely disturbing. In any civilised society, discrimination, violence, and murder on the basis of religion, caste, identity, etc, are crimes against humanity,” she wrote on X.

“The Government of India should take cognisance of the rising violence against Hindu, Christian, and Buddhist minorities in the neighbouring country and firmly raise the issue of their safety with the Government of Bangladesh,” she added.

On Saturday, the interim government said that seven people have been arrested in connection with the lynching incident during operations at various locations.

The Hindu population in Bangladesh has been affected by a series of incidents against minority communities in the country after the ouster of then-prime minister Sheikh Hasina in August last year.