Lynching and Burning of Dipu Chandra Das Marks Deadly Escalation of Blasphemy-Driven Violence Against Minorities in Bangladesh

Full HRCBM investigative report:
https://www.hrcbm.org/wp-new/blasphemy-as-a-license-to-kill-mob-lynching-and-burning-as-communal-execution-and-the-erasure-of-minorities-in-bangladesh/

San Jose, California / Dhaka | 19 December 2025

The Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities (HRCBM) expresses its deepest alarm and condemnation over the lynching and burning of Dipu Chandra Das, a Hindu garment-factory worker in Bhaluka, Mymensingh, following an unverified allegation of blasphemy. The killing represents a grave escalation in the systematic misuse of blasphemy allegations to justify mob violence and terrorize minority communities in Bangladesh.

On the evening of 18 December 2025, Dipu Chandra Das was dragged out of his workplace by a large mob, brutally beaten, and later set on fire in public. According to police accounts, authorities were alerted by factory management but arrived after the mob-estimated at 5,000-6,000 people-had already carried out the killing. It reportedly took more than an hour, with assistance from the army, to recover the body and transfer it to the morgue.

Eyewitness testimonies gathered by HRCBM field observers contest parts of the official narrative and raise serious concerns that Dipu Chandra Das may not have been fully deceased when he was set on fire. HRCBM is continuing to verify these accounts and has called for an independent forensic investigation to determine the exact cause and sequence of death.

"This was not spontaneous mob anger. It was a public communal execution, carried out under a false religious pretext and intended to send a message of fear to an entire minority population," said Dhiman Deb Chowdhury, Founder and President of HRCBM. "Whether Dipu was beaten to death and then burned, or burned while still alive, the crime reflects the same reality-impunity has replaced law."

A National Pattern of Violence

Blashphemy report available at https://www.hrcbm.org/wp-new/blasphemy-allegations-and-rising-persecution-hrcbm-warns-of-a-deepening-human-rights-crisis-in-bangladesh/

Dipu Chandra Das's killing is not an isolated incident. According to HRCBM's verified documentation from January to November 2025, the organization has recorded:

73 blasphemy-related incidents across 32 districts

40 formal police cases, with case numbers obtained directly from police stations

5 refusals by police to register complaints

5 students expelled from educational institutions

23 cases currently under investigation

These incidents have devastated thousands of minority families, resulting in violence, displacement, false prosecutions, and prolonged fear. Blasphemy allegations are increasingly weaponized through fabricated digital content, hacked social-media accounts, and rumor-based mobilization, often without any forensic verification.

State Failure and International Obligations

HRCBM warns that delayed intervention, failure to prosecute perpetrators, and the absence of preventive safeguards have emboldened mobs to act with near-total impunity. The organization stresses that such acts violate Bangladesh's obligations under international human-rights law, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), and core protections under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

HRCBM's Call to Action

HRCBM calls upon the Government of Bangladesh and the international community to urgently:

Ensure independent and transparent investigation into the killing of Dipu Chandra Das

Mandate cyber-forensic verification before any arrest in alleged blasphemy cases

Prosecute individuals who fabricate evidence or incite mob violence

Provide immediate protection, compensation, and rehabilitation to affected families

Publicly condemn the misuse of blasphemy allegations as a tool of violence

"This killing is a warning," Chowdhury added. "If allegations replace evidence and mobs replace courts, the erasure of minorities becomes only a matter of time."

HRCBM has notified UN bodies, embassies, parliamentarians, and international media and stands ready to provide video documentation (content warning), audio records, eyewitness testimony, and district-level data to support independent scrutiny.

Media Contact:
Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities (HRCBM)
📧 info@hrcbm.org

🌐 www.hrcbm.org

📞 +1-408-464-6804

2200 Eastridge Loop #731192
San Jose, CA 95173

Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities (HRCBM) is a UN ECOSOC-accredited human-rights organization documenting and advocating against violence, discrimination, and legal abuse targeting minority communities in Bangladesh, with a focus on blasphemy-related persecution and communal violence.

This release was published on openPR.