Has any Muslim ever been punished in this country for killing a Hindu in Bangladesh?

Justice for Dipu Das? Taslima Nasreen Questions Bangladesh’s Track Record on Islamist Mob Violence on Hindus.

Noted writer and humanist Taslima Nasreen questions the mob lynching of Dipu Chandra Das in Bangladesh amid the turmoil in the country following the assassination of ‘Jihadi Hadi’. This is an unedited collection of Nasreen’s posts on X.

Taslima Nasreen

At the death of one jihadi, hundreds of thousands of jihadis went on a rampage across Bangladesh. Whatever they found, they smashed into pieces. They set everything on fire and reduced it to ashes. Jihadis beat to death a young man from Bhaluka, Dipu Chandra Das, then hung his body from a tree and burned it. No—no one felt sorrow, no one’s hands trembled, no one’s heart wept. Shouting “Naraye Takbir, Allahu Akbar,” they screamed in ecstatic celebration. This is what the real face of Jihadistan looks like.

Dipu Chandra Das worked at a factory in Bhaluka, Mymensingh. He was a poor laborer. One day, a Muslim coworker wanted to punish him over some trivial matter, so in the middle of a crowd he announced that Dipu had made derogatory remarks about the Prophet. That was enough. Frenzied followers of the Prophet pounced on Dipu like hyenas and began to tear him apart. Eventually the police rescued him and took him into custody—meaning Dipu was under police protection.

Dipu told the police what had happened, stated that he was innocent, that he had made no comment whatsoever about the Prophet, and that it was all a conspiracy by that coworker. The police did not go after the coworker. Many among the police harbor a fondness for jihad. Was it in the excess of this jihadist zeal that they threw Dipu back to those fanatics? Or did jihadist militants shove the police aside and take Dipu out of the station? They held a full-blown celebration—beating Dipu, hanging him, burning him—a jihadist festival.

Dipu Chandra Das was the sole breadwinner of his family. With his earnings, his disabled father, mother, wife, and child survived. What will happen to them now? Who will help the relatives? Who will bring the mad murderers to justice? Dipu’s family doesn’t even have the money to flee to India to escape the jihadists’ hands. The poor have no one. They have no country left, not even a religion left.

Dipu Chandra Das worked at a factory in Bhaluka, Mymensingh. He was a poor laborer. It was alleged that Dipu had made derogatory remarks about the Prophet of Islam. As a result, Muslim workers inside the factory prepared to punish him. The factory’s floor manager forced him to resign from his job. Then he handed Dipu over to the frenzied followers of the Prophet who were waiting outside the factory. They beat Dipu, hung him, and burned him, indulging in a vile jihadist spectacle. Dipu Chandra Das was the sole breadwinner of his family. His income supported his disabled father, his mother, his wife, and his child. What will happen to his relatives now? Dipu’s family does not even have the money to flee to India to save themselves from the hands of jihadists. The poor have no one—especially poor minorities. They have no country, even in their own country. They have no religion, even within religion itself.

Dipu did not insult religion. But even if he had, he should not have been punished. Everyone has the right to express their own views about religion. Dipu did not insult religion. Yet, by spreading rumors that he had, he was brutally murdered. Seven people have been arrested. I am not saying that they should also be beaten to death, stripped naked and hung from trees, or burned alive. I do not believe in the death penalty. They should be given life imprisonment—especially the floor manager. None of them should be released later from jail through deception or trickery. Stop the killing of human beings. The state should provide financial assistance to Dipu’s family. The state must ensure the security of minorities.

Because of alleged insults to the Prophet—and by spreading the rumor that someone has insulted the Prophet—how many people’s lives have been destroyed so far by violent jihadists, has anyone kept count? They should. The history of barbarity in Bengal should be written down. The accusation of “insulting the Prophet” has been leveled against everyone, regardless of religion, caste, race, or gender. People have been hacked to death, tortured, humiliated, imprisoned, flogged, and stoned to death.

Unspeakable torture continues even now. I say: let the Prophet be criticized. Let everyone do it. If what the Prophet did had been done by anyone else—if a man over fifty married a six-year-old child, or married eleven women, or had sexual relations with slave women; if he became attracted to his adopted son’s wife, told the son to divorce her, and then married that wife after the divorce—would the neighbors have merely criticized him? Or would they have stripped him naked and beaten him?

If someone earned money through gang robbery? If he remained constantly engaged in war, and after defeating enemies captured their wives and daughters and used them for their pleasure? If he advised husbands to beat their wives when they were disobedient—would people not criticize him? They would. Then why should people not criticize the Prophet?

Throughout history, people have criticized those who were given the title of “great men.” Their characters have been minutely analyzed in every era and every age. Some have respected them, others have not. Some have loved them, others have criticized them.

The Prophet is worthy of criticism. He will be criticized. As long as the religion exists, that criticism will continue. Rational people will inevitably criticize the Prophet, because he gave instructions to kill non-believers, enacted laws that treat women as sexual objects, regarded women as intellectually inferior, and granted women neither their rightful rights nor dignity. Those who cannot tolerate criticism should refute the allegations with reason and logic. By taking up knives of emotion and hacking critics to death, or by burning people alive in the fire of stupidity, nothing is achieved except the exposure of one’s own barbarity and the laying bare of one’s own failure. Nothing else happens.

People across the country cried for jihadi Hadi. No one even turned to look at the innocent, poor Hindu youth who was beaten and burned to death by a gang of jihadis. The sound of Dipu Chandra Das’s family’s cries did not reach anyone’s ears.

Mr. Yunus, wearing a cap on his head, went to the jihadi’s funeral and wailed loudly. But he did not spend a single sentence on Dipu’s horrific murder.

When the news of Hindu killings in Bangladesh spread in foreign media, Yunus immediately ordered the police to arrest some criminals, even if only for show. The police rounded up ten people and displayed them as “arrested.”

Yunus knows very well that no one will follow up on what happens to those ten people. The criminals will be quietly released after being shown as innocent.

Has any Muslim ever been punished in this country for killing a Hindu?

Postscript

This is what is called a true Muslim. He has made it clear that according to Allah’s command, killing someone who insults the Prophet is the duty of every Muslim.
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