Why is there such visible collaboration between the police and the so-called “Touhidi Janata” — the extremist mob issuing threats?
Is this not state-sponsored nurturing of extremist forces?
On April 6, 2025, Upendranath Roy, a Hindu schoolteacher from Bonatara village, Union 8, Shankarpur, in Dinajpur Sadar Upazila, asked a simple question:
“If Sabuj Das has committed blasphemy or said anything offensive, or done anything wrong—then arrest him. We are ordinary villagers. Is being Hindu our only crime? Why must all Hindu-owned shops and businesses in the village be shut down because of this?”
And just like that, these words became a crime.
For simply asking this, his home was surrounded, and police arrived to arrest this respected teacher.
While one individual’s alleged offense—which remains uninvestigated and unproven—is used as justification for public threats to shut down the entire local Hindu community’s livelihood, that’s not considered a crime.
But the real “crime,” it seems, was that Teacher Upendranath Roy dared to speak out against this collective punishment.
So, he must be silenced.
By arresting Upendranath Roy, has the state not sent a clear message that it stands with majoritarian extremism and not with justice?
Is this not another example of the state enabling minority persecution in Bangladesh?
