Dhaka, 21 September (HS): A sense of shock and fear has gripped Bangladesh following the unusual and mysterious deaths of a young doctor from the minority Hindu community and his father within a span of 11 days. On September 7, the body of 31-year-old Padmajit Chakraborty Pranta, a young doctor at Brahmanbaria Medical College, was found hanging at his residence in Sylhet. On Friday, the body of his father, Purnendu Chakraborty, was recovered from an upper-floor room at their family business establishment in Moulvibazar.

The body of Purnendu Chakraborty was recovered from a room on the second floor of ‘Bhater Pharmacy’, located on M. Saifur Rahman Road in Moulvibazar town. Sub-Inspector (SI) Manoj Kumar Sarkar of Moulvibazar Model Police Station said that the exact cause of death has not yet been established. The body was handed over to the family after post-mortem, and a detailed investigation into the incident is underway.

Earlier, on September 7, the body of doctor Padmajit Chakraborty was recovered from a rented house in Mirzajangal, Sylhet city. The young doctor, who had married about two years ago, died under unusual circumstances just a day after moving into the new house. Although police initially suspect suicide, the consecutive deaths of the father and son within such a short span of time have raised serious questions among the public.

Expressing concern over the incident, Palash Kanti Dey, general secretary of the Bangladesh National Hindu Mahajote, demanded an impartial judicial inquiry into the entire matter. He said that the safety of doctors, teachers, police personnel and journalists belonging to the minority community in the country can no longer be considered assured. He said it is the fundamental responsibility of the state to conduct an impartial investigation into whether the successive mysterious deaths are actually suicides or planned killings.

Referring to data contained in ‘Political Economy’, a book by Abul Barkat, a professor in the Department of Economics at Dhaka University, he further alleged that if the continuing persecution, threats and harassment of minorities persist, the country will soon become devoid of minorities. He also expressed anger that many incidents of daily attacks, intimidation and persecution are not even coming into the public domain.

Palash Kanti Dey said that Hindus are being killed somewhere or the other in Bangladesh every day. Houses belonging to Hindus are being set on fire, threats are being made over the phone to burn Hindus alive, and people are being threatened to leave the country and flee to India. Hindu homes are also being set on fire at night.

He claimed that not even five per cent of these incidents are reported in the media and that, due to fear, they are not being reported on social media either. Expressing concern, Palash Babu said that the manner in which Hindus are being subjected to persecution in Bangladesh has surpassed even the atrocities committed by the Pakistani forces during the 1971 Liberation War. He said that when the Indian Army carried out operations against separatists in Kashmir, the Muslim community in Bangladesh would erupt in protests, but despite such persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh, the international community remains silent.

Hindusthan Samachar / Santosh Madhup