Tue 19 October 2021:
A Hindu teenager was arrested in Bangladesh on Monday for an allegedly offensive Facebook post about Islam’s holiest site, the Kaaba, which went viral and sparked communal violence in the country.
On Sunday, Paritosh Sarkar degraded the holy Kaaba in the post, causing outrage among Muslims in Rangpur’s northern district.
According to local and police reports, enraged crowds assembled within hours and set fire to at least 30 Hindu homes and temples.
Hundreds more Hindus fleeing the violence sought refuge in neighboring buildings and open fields. Law police and firefighting forces rushed to the scene and quickly brought the situation under control.
Following the incidents, police started an investigation, and as of Monday evening, 45 individuals had been detained, according to Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal.
Devdas Bhattacharya, deputy inspector general of police of Rangpur Range, confirmed to the media Monday night that police began seeking for the Hindu kid who was behind the post and found him in the neighboring district of Joypurhat.
Meanwhile, the home minister told journalists that all damaged homes and temples would be rebuilt as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had ordered it.
Mia Seppo, the UN Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh, called on the Bangladeshi government to protect minority Hindus and undertake an impartial investigation into the attacks on Hindu temples and homes in a tweet.
“Recent attacks on Hindus of Bangladesh fueled by hate speech on social media are against the values of the constitution and need to stop,” Seppo said.
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