Assailants carry out arson attacks on Hindu homes in Rangpur

A group of assailants have carried out arson attacks on a village in Rangpur’s Pirganj, leaving some 20 homes of Hindus burnt over an allegedly blasphemous social media post, police say.

Police reached Majhipara’s Jelepolli, a neighbourhood of fishermen, immediately after tension mounted on Sunday after some people had alleged that a young Hindu man of the village had posted to Facebook a content dishonouring religion, said Md Qamruzzaman, the district’s superintendent of police.  

“Police stood guard around his home. That home was saved, but the attackers set fire to some other homes not so far from his,” Qamruzzaman said.

An official at Fire Service and Civil Defence’s control room said they had received the information about the fire at 9:50pm, reports bdnews24.com. 

Firefighters from Pirganj, Mithapukur and Rangpur city rushed to douse the fire. They were at the scene until 3am on Monday.

There were no immediate reports of casualties. The authorities could not confirm the scale of damage, but the SP said the number of homes burnt in the attack could be between 15 and 20.