"Persistent violence must be reined in", 21 Dec 2025

Brutal attacks in Mymensingh, Lakshmipur continue trend of violence.

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..outside a knitwear factory in Bhaluka, a small industrial town in Mymensingh, a mob bayed for the blood of Dipu Chandra Das, a 27-year-old employee falsely accused of "hurting religious sentiments." Inside, factory staff feared for the safety of their building. Their decision was morally repugnant as the worker was forcibly ejected from the premises to "protect the factory." The mob promptly beat him to death, hung his body from a tree on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway, and set it on fire. The horror of the lynching is compounded by its baselessness. The Rapid Action Battalion later confirmed there was no evidence—digital or otherwise—against the worker. It now appears he was murdered over a rumour. But the guilt extends beyond the mob. The decision by factory management to hand a worker over to a violent crowd is grotesque. It suggests that factory managers have become complicit in the barbarism outside their gates. ..It is the state's paramount duty to ensure that citizens are protected from such brutalities and intimidation. Bangladesh stands at a perilous juncture. The authorities must arrest this slide into lawlessness and ensure that the rule of law is not supplanted by the rule of the mob. The culture of impunity must be crushed.