Bangladesh Horror: 1971 Liberation War Hero And Wife Found Brutally Murdered With Slit Throats In Rangpur, Reignites Minorities Debate

In Bangladesh, a freedom fighter of the 1971 Liberation War (Muktijoddha) and his wife were discovered dead with their throats cut at their Rangpur home. 

The 75-year-old Jogesh Chandra Roy and his wife Suborna Roy were the victims who were found dead by their neighbours on Sunday morning when they did not reply to several attempts at knocking on their door. The sons of the deceased couple are said to be serving in the Bangladesh Police.

Minority Fear Grows as Freedom Fighter Killed Amid Bangladesh Unrest

The murders are in the background of increasing panic over attacks on minorities, especially the Hindus, during the interim government of Muhammad Yunus.

This was brutally directed at the police force when it was targeted to remove Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in July-August 2024. Thirty or so police officers were lynched and killed, and hundreds had not been heard of since they had not returned to work.

According to the sources and reports, even after a year of the August 2024 mayhem, Bangladesh continues to operate without a full police force.

Bangladesh Police Crisis Deepens After Brutal Killing of Muktijoddha

Thousands of communal violence incidences have been reported in Bangladesh since the removal of Sheikh Hasina in August 2024 despite Yunus asserting that the anti-Hindu violence assertions have been overstated propaganda, according to minority rights organizations.

In response to the event, Awami League leader Mohammad Ali Arafat who is in exile stated that the incident highlighted the growing dangers against the freedom fighters and their families. Arafat also threatened that with the leadership of Muhammad Yunus, whose leadership is supported by the anti-liberation Islamist group Jamaat-e-Islami, such assault and murder is increasingly common.

Freedom fighters in Bangladesh are not only being humiliated and even attacked but also killed under the rule of Yunus, which has the support of the anti-liberation Islamist organization, Jamaat-e-Islami, alleged Arafat who served as the Information Minister in the Hasina Cabinet. 

Yunus Interim Rule Under Fire

Their home in the Uttar Rahimapur neighbourhood of Kursha in the northern Rangpur in Bangladesh was found early Sunday with the bodies of Roy, aged 75, and his 60-year-old wife, news agency, Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS).

At about 7.30 AM on Sunday, it was reported that neighbours and their household help did not get any response after knocking severally on the door. They then climbed a ladder on top of the main gate and into the house premises. They discovered the body of Suborna Roy in the kitchen, and that of Jogesh Chandra Roy in the dining room, said Prothom Alo, Dhaka based daily.

Both had their throats slit.

Though the authors of the crime have not been mentioned in any of the reports, the outlawed Awami League of the deposed PM Sheikh Hasina has attributed the killings to the Yunus regime and its endorsement to the anti-liberation Islamist organization Jamaat-e-Islami.

According to police, the assault happened between 1 AM and Sunday.

Jogesh Chandra Roy was a former activist of the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971 and subsequently a headteacher in a government primary school. He retired in 2017.

The human couple inhabited a village house all by itself. They have two sons who are Shoven Chandra Roy and Rajesh Khanna Chandra Roy and who serve in the two different units of the Bangladesh Police, one being in the Joypurhat and the other one being in Dhaka respectively.

Taraganj Police station officers, such as the Officer-in-Charge (OC), and the district officials attended the house. The Daily Star reported that an autopsy and a team of forensic workers and detectives were called in. The statement in the report further stated that the motive of the murders remains unknown. According to the police, no record of the previous conflicts with Hindu family was found.

No suspect profiles have been issued and officials have not confirmed whether they are looking at robbery, communal or political violence targeted motive.

The report published in Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) mentioned that no case was filed as of Sunday, 2 PM.

Anger over the brutality experienced has led to leaders of local communities and veteran-freedom-fighters threatening to arrest and even hold protests should the perpetrators not be arrested immediately, observed the Prothom Alo report.

These murders occur against a rising concern in Bangladesh regarding attacks against the minorities, such as the Hindus, under the interim government of Muhammad Yunus.

Rising Communal Violence

Since August 2024, when Sheikh Hasina was oustered, there have been reports of Hindu homes, businesses, and temples being attacked in several districts of Bangladesh. In December 2024, at least 20 houses and a temple were vandalized in response to a supposedly offensive post on social media, in the Monglargaon of the Sunamganj district.

From August 4 to 20, 2024, the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council recorded 2,000 acts of communal violence against minorities, 9 deaths of Hindus, and 69 acts of communal violence against places of worship. In October of last month, Islamists took to the streets in Bangladesh protesting that an urgent ban be placed on Isckon, which they termed an extremist organisation.

Nonetheless, the Bangladesh interim leader, Muhammad Yunus has claimed that the claims of the anti-Hindu violence are overblown.

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