Bangladesh rejects India's allegation over Hindu leader's death

Bangladesh has rejected New Delhi's charge that the recent killing of a Hindu leader was part of a "pattern of systematic persecution" of minorities in that country. Body of Hindu community leader Bhabesh Chandra Roy, 58, a resident of Basudebpur village of Dinajpur district in north Bangladesh, was recovered on Thursday night. His son has claimed Roy was allegedly abducted from his home in the village, about 330 kilometres northwest of Dhaka, and beaten to death.

"It is unfortunate that the death of Mr Bhabesh Chandra Roy has been described as part of a 'pattern of systematic persecution' of Hindu minorities under the interim government," interim government chief Muhammad Yunus' press secretary Shafiqul Alam told the state-run Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) news agency late Monday.

Alam, who is currently accompanying Yunus to an international conference in Qatar, said Bangladesh is not a country where one would find government-sponsored systematic discrimination against minorities.

Rather, he claimed, the Bangladesh government protects the rights of all of its citizens irrespective of religious denominations.

The Bangladesh reaction came days after India condemned the alleged abduction and killing of the Hindu minority leader in Bangladesh and called on the interim government in Dhaka to live up to its responsibility of protecting the minorities.

"This killing follows a pattern of systematic persecution of Hindu minorities under the interim government even as the perpetrators of previous such events roam with impunity," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a post on X on Saturday.

Roy's family had lodged a case with Dinajpur police after his murder against four named suspects and several unnamed individuals.

"The accused took my father to an unknown location and beat him to death in a premeditated manner," Roy's son 28-year-old Swapan Chandra Roy, alleged in his written complaint.

Swapan Chandra Roy named Atikur Rahman as accused number one, who according to media reports, runs an informal money lending business.

Police said according to the family complaint, Roy borrowed Taka (Tk) 25,000 from Rahman agreeing to repay it in monthly installments of Tk 3,250 but financial hardship debarred him from regular repayment despite the lender's insistence making him sick.

Roy's son, in the complaint, said that on April 17 afternoon the accused went to Roy's house on two motorbikes and took him away under the pretext of an urgent discussion and added that he received a call in the evening when a co-accused, Ratan Islam told him his father had fallen sick.

The accused abandoned Roy on a spot near his home and fled and doctors declared him dead as the family took him to a hospital.

Yunus's press secretary, however, said "in this particular case, we have ascertained that the victim went out with some individuals previously known to him" and the autopsy report did not detect any prima facie sign of bodily injury.

"This notwithstanding, the authorities have ordered viscera analysis to conclusively determine the cause of death," he said, adding that appropriate actions would be taken once the viscera report is available.

"We invite all quarters to refrain from making fabricated and insightful comments on the incident," Alam added.

Roy's son said his father was a farmer by profession and also served as the vice-president of the local unit of Puja Udjapan Parishad.

Dinajpur's district police chief Marufat Hossain acknowledged the filing of the case by Roy's son.

"We are taking the matter seriously and conducting a thorough investigation," he told reporters.