Most minority incidents not communal, says Bangladesh govt amid India concern

New Delhi/Dhaka, Jan 19: The majority of incidents involving members of minority communities in Bangladesh during 2025 were "criminal in nature" and not driven by communal motives, the interim government said on Monday.

Citing a yearlong review of official police records, the interim government said a total of 645 incidents involving minority communities were recorded between January and December 2025 across Bangladesh.

"While every incident is a matter of concern, the data presents a clear and evidence-based picture; the overwhelming majority of cases were criminal in nature rather than communal," it said.

According to the statement posted on the Chief Adviser's verified social media handle, of the 645 incidents, 71 were identified as having communal elements.

These included 38 cases of temple vandalism, eight of arson, one of theft, one murder and 23 other incidents such as threats to break idols, provocative social media posts and damage to worship pavilions.

Police cases were filed in 50 of these incidents, and arrests were made in an equal number, while other preventive or investigative measures were taken in 21 cases, the statement said.

The remaining 574 incidents were linked to criminal or social disputes unrelated to religion, including neighbourhood disputes (51), land-related conflicts (23), theft (106), prior personal enmity (26), rape (58) and 172 cases of unnatural death.

Police registered 390 cases in this category, filed 154 unnatural death reports and made 498 arrests, with additional measures taken in 30 incidents.

The interim government said the report "does not deny challenges, nor does it claim perfection; rather, it seeks to provide a factual, evidence-based picture of crime trends affecting minority communities within the broader national context".

"While all crimes are serious and demand accountability, the data demonstrates that most incidents involving minority victims were not driven by communal hostility, but by broader criminal and social factors that affect citizens across religious and ethnic lines," it said.

The statement issued by Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus' Press Wing came days after India, on January 9, pressed Dhaka to "swiftly and firmly" deal with attacks on minorities in Bangladesh and described as "troubling" the attempts to attribute the incidents to extraneous reasons.

New Delhi's reaction had come against the backdrop of the killing of several Hindu individuals in Bangladesh in the last few weeks.

On January 9, reacting to the recent spate of violence targeting Hindus in Bangladesh, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, "We continue to witness a disturbing pattern of recurring attacks on minorities as well as their homes and businesses by extremists. We have observed a troubling tendency to attribute such incidents to personal rivalries, political differences, or extraneous reasons. Such disregard only emboldens the perpetrators and deepens the sense of fear and insecurity among minorities."

According to the 2022 census, the Hindu population in Bangladesh is approximately 13.13 million, which accounts for about 7.95% of the country's total population.

The Buddhist population is approximately 1.01 million (0.61%), Christians nearly 500,000 and other religions, including Sikh and Animist, approximately 200,000 (0.12%).

PTI