'They tied the burnt torso and head...': Father of Hindu man lynched in Bangladesh

(File photo)

Dipu Chandra Das, who worked at a garment factory in Mymensingh, was brutally lynched on Thursday night for allegedly insulting Islam, while some violent protesters demanding justice for the assassination of Osman Sharif Hadi vandalised key landmarks over a hundred kilometres away in Dhaka.

After Das's lynching, his body was tied to a tree and set on fire, with dozens of people seen celebrating the barbarity. The videos of the incident were widely shared on social media.

The victim's father, Ravilal Das, got to know about his son's killing from Facebook.

"We started hearing things from Facebook, and then more people were talking about it. We found out about it when someone told me he was beaten badly. Half an hour later, my uncle came and told me they took my son and they tied him to a tree," he recounted, according to a report by NDTV.

"Then they poured kerosene on him and set him on fire. His burnt body was left outside. They tied the burned torso and head outside together. It was horrible," the grieving father told NDTV from his current location in Bangladesh.

The brutal mob lynching of Dipu Das has drawn global attention to the plight of minorities in Bangladesh, especially the Hindus, with Hadi's death after being shot at just months before general elections becoming a triggering point for Islamic hardliners to continue with their rampage and target institutions that do not fit in with their ideology.

Muhammad Yunus's interim government has condemned the lynching and ordered action. Meanwhile, former Member of Parliament and Information Minister under the Sheikh Hasina government, Mohammad Ali Arafat, highlighted how radical Islamist forces are taking over the streets of Bangladesh under the garb of protests over Hadi's death.

"Hadi's supporters held a sit-in at Shahbagh on Friday (December 19), demanding justice for the murder of Sharif Osman Hadi. The program later turned into a gathering dominated by jihadist and radical Islamist elements, with leaders such as Jashimuddin Rahmani and Ataur Rahman Bikrampuri of Towhidi Janata in attendance. Members of other extremist groups were also present and delivered provocative speeches," he said in a post on social media platform X.