January 6, 2026
NEW DELHI – A Hindu journalist was shot dead in Bangladesh’s Jashore district on Monday, as violence against religious minorities continues unabated in the country.
The victim, Rana Pratap, who was the acting editor of a local newspaper, was killed in Kopalia Bazar area of Manirampur sub-district in Jashore at around 6 pm.
According to reports, a group of men called Pratap and lured him out of an ice factory that he ran in addition to his work as a journalist. The assailants then took him into an alley and shot him in the head at close range.
Pratap’s killing comes amid a spate of attacks against Hindus in Bangladesh and days after a Hindu businessman, Khokon Das, was set on fire by a mob.
Since December 2025, at least four Hindus have been killed in Bangladesh. The most recent case prior to Pratap’s murder was that of Khokon Das, a medical shop owner in Shariatpur district. Das was attacked by a mob while returning home on December 31.
The mob allegedly assaulted Das with sharp weapons before setting him on fire. He managed to jump into a nearby pond to survive the attack but sustained severe injuries. He was admitted to the National Burn Institute in Dhaka, where he later succumbed to his injuries on Saturday.
A day before the attack on Das, a Hindu worker, Bajendra Biswas, was shot dead by his colleague in Bhaluka upazila of Mymensingh district.
Bangladesh rejects India’s concerns over minority attacks, calls them ‘exaggerated and motivated’
Earlier, Amrit Mondal was lynched to death by a mob over allegations of extortion. Another particularly brutal incident involved Dipu Chandra Das, a garment factory worker in Mymensingh, who was lynched by a mob over allegations of blasphemy. The mob later reportedly hung his body and set it on fire, raising serious concerns over the safety of religious minorities in the country.
In another incident of violence, a Hindu widow was allegedly raped by local men in Jhenaidah district last week. The 40-year-old woman was also brutally assaulted. She was tied to a tree and her hair was cut by two men who, according to reports, had been following her for several months.