In yet another case reflecting the persistent pattern of false blasphemy charges against Hindus in Bangladesh, police in Tahirpur, Sunamganj, have filed a case against a 40-year-old youth who was detained over an alleged blasphemous Facebook post.
He was taken into custody from a village in Badaghat Union on Monday afternoon, a case was registered against him that night, and on Tuesday he was shown as arrested and sent to jail through the court.
The incident follows a familiar sequence seen in numerous attacks on Hindu communities: an alleged social media post triggers tension, a mob mobilizes, and the accused is arrested even when evidence of a fabricated account exists. Police detained the man on Monday afternoon on the allegation that he had posted blasphemous content on Facebook.
However, he had earlier lodged a General Diary (GD) at the police station stating that the Facebook ID and name used for the post were fake. In the GD, he reported that an account had been opened using his and his family members’ photographs to circulate communally provocative posts, and he had requested police action.
While officers were taking him onto a boat after the arrest, a group of teenagers and young men threw bricks from behind and tried to snatch him away—mirroring the mob attacks that frequently accompany such allegations and have, in other cases, resulted in killings of Hindus, destruction of homes, and attacks on temples. Police then quickly moved him to the station.
The arrested man, a resident of a village in Badaghat Union, was previously a police constable with the Sylhet Metropolitan Police. Confirming this, Tahirpur Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Mohammad Faruk Ahmed told Prothom Alo that he was dismissed from service for remaining absent from duty for a long period without permission.
According to police and local sources, a blasphemous post appeared from a Facebook ID on Sunday. As discussion and criticism spread, tension rose in the village on Monday afternoon, leading to the arrest. Following the incident, Tahirpur Upazila BNP joint conveners Md. Junab Ali and Mehdi Hasan, along with others, visited the village and held a meeting with local residents, urging them to remain calm.
The case adds to a continuing series of arrests of Hindus on blasphemy charges that are often preceded by fake social media accounts and accompanied by mob violence, with little apparent accountability for those who incite or carry out the attacks.