Mayhem over Facebook post: Local admin start working on rehabilitation of Hindu families
Police sue 2000 people
Local administration started working for the rehabilitation of the people of Hindu community whose houses were burnt and vandalised following a clash over a Facebook post “demeaning Islam” yesterday in Horkoli Thakurpara village of Rangpur.
A man was killed and 20 others were injured at Horkoli Thakurpara village as police fired rubber bullets and teargas shells to control religious zealots, who burnt and vandalised 30 houses in the village.
Faruk Hossain, chairman of Khaleya Union Parishad in Sadar, told The Daily Star that the workers of the local administration started to rebuild the houses of the affected Hindu families around 9:30am.
Police filed a case against more than 2000 people mentioning names of 25 to 30 people with Gangachhara Police Station over the incident, according to UNB.
Meanwhile, nearly 1000 people of the Hindu community, including women and children, formed a human chain on both sides of Dinajpur-Rangpur highway around 10:30am, demanding exemplary punishment of the attackers and compensation for the Hindu families.
They will continue the agitation programme for an hour, reports our Dinajpur correspondent.
Titu Chandra Roy, son of late Khogen Roy of the village, “made the Facebook post” on November 5. Titu, now in his 30s, has been living in Narayanganj with his wife for around four years, local sources say.
Alamgir Hossain, a trader from nearby Lalchandrapur village, under the district's Gangachara upazila, filed a case against Titu over the post the same day.
Yesterday, thousands from several villages gathered in front of a mosque in Shayela Shah Bazar area after Juma prayers and then staged agitations on the highway, leaving hundreds of vehicles stranded for over an hour.
In Horkoli Thakurpara, the rioters, many of them carrying sticks, torched 20 houses of eight Hindu families, including that of Titu, and vandalised about 10 others.