Lagatar24 Desk
Dhaka, Oct.25: In a pre-trial hearing, a key suspect and his accomplice accused of spreading racial hatred on social media and sparking recent violence against Bangladesh’s minority Hindu community admitted to their crime, according to a court official.
On Sunday, Shaikat Mandal admitted before a magistrate that it was his Facebook post that sparked the violence in Rangpur, Pirganj sub-district on October 17 during the country’s Durga Puja celebrations.
Rabiul Islam, Shaikat Mandal’s accomplice, is a 36-year-old preacher who has been charged with burning and looting.
According to the court official,”Shaikat Mandal and his accomplice Rabiul Isam have admitted their role before a senior judicial magistrate Delwar Hossain in (north-western) Rangpur.”
They were apprehended in Gazipur on Friday and charged under the Digital Security Act.
Shaikat Mandal is a philosophy student at Carmichael College in Rangpur, and after his arrest, he was removed from the ruling Awami League’s student wing, Chhatra League.
A Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) official was mentioned in a bdnews24.com report as saying that he had uploaded offensive content to Facebook to increase his following count.
According to the official, Rabiul Islam assisted Shaikat Mandal in inciting Muslims in the hamlet on Friday by making announcements over the loudspeaker.
Reportedly, the incident was sparked after a rumour started circulating in Pirganj that a Hindu man had posted religiously inappropriate content on Facebook.
Approximately 70 Hindu homes were set ablaze during the mayhem on October 17, according to the authorities.
According to sources, at least seven persons have confessed to their crimes during pre-trial legal proceedings, with 683 arrests and more than 70 cases filed accusing 24,000 suspects, the most of whom were anonymous.
After an alleged blasphemous remark on social media went viral on October 13, attacks on Hindus were reported in Bangladesh during the Durga Puja celebrations.
In addition to Shaikat Mandal and Rabiul Islam, police have arrested Iqbal Hossain, who allegedly placed the Quran at a Durga Puja venue in Cumilla, and Fayez Ahmed, who allegedly posted a video of the Quran at the Puja venue, in prison, according to RAB authorities.
