Is Communal Violence Surging Before Bangladesh’s Feb 12 Polls?

3 min readUpdated: Feb 10, 2026 05:48 PM Susen Chandra Sarkar, a 62-year-old Hindu trader, was reportedly hacked to death unidentified men inside his shop in Trishal upazila of Mymensingh in Bangladesh. Trishal Police Station chief Muhammad Firoz Hossain said the incident took place on Monday night at the Bogar Bazar intersection in the Upazila, news portal bdnews24.com reported.
Susen Chandra Sarkar was the owner of ‘Bhai Bhai Enterprise’ and a resident of Southkanda village, the police official said.
Hossain said the attackers hacked Sarkar with a sharp weapon, left him inside the shop, and closed the shutters. Sarkar’s family was searching for him, and when they opened the shutters to the shop, he was found covered in blood.
Sarkar was rushed to Mymensingh Medical College Hospital, where doctors declared him dead.
“We have had a rice business for a long time. No one had any enmity with us. The criminals stole several hundred thousand taka from the store after they brutally killed my father,” Sujan Sarkar, the victim’s son, said.
He demanded that his father’s killers be identified quickly and given exemplary punishment.
Sarkar’s murder is the latest incident of violence targeting the minority community.Story continues below this ad
Major recent attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh

The Hindu population in Bangladesh has been affected a series of incidents after the killing of radical youth leader Sharif Osman Hadi in December.
Last month, the Bangladesh Hindu Buddh Chrian Unity Council alleged that as the date of the general elections draws nearer, communal violence is increasing at an alarming rate in the country. The Council said it recorded 51 incidents of communal violence in December 2025 alone.
Bangladesh will hold parliamentary elections on February 12 – the first since the ouster of Prime Miner Sheikh Hasina in massive country protests in August 2024.
According to the 2022 census, the Hindu population in Bangladesh is approximately 13.13 million, which accounts for about 7.95 per cent of the country’s total population.Story continues below this ad
Context of the violence

(With inputs from PTI)
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