
In the coastal subdistrict of Shyamnagar in Satkhira, a quiet but deeply troubling story unfolded last week, one that highlights concerns about the security of minority communities and the protection of democratic rights in parts of rural Bangladesh. On the morning of February 28, nearly three hundred Hindu women had gathered outside the Shyamnagar Upazila …

Authorities have launched an investigation following allegations of vandalism at the Sri Sri Banakali Temple in Ward No. 9 of Ranisankail Municipality, located in Thakurgaon District. According to local residents, unidentified individuals are believed to have entered the temple premises under the cover of darkness on the night of 27 February. By early morning, community …

Every spring, when the air turns fragrant with shiuli’s memory and the first blaze of palash ignites the countryside, West Bengal steps into Dol Utsav, also known as Dol Purnima. It is Holi, yet rendered in a distinctly Bengali key, where colour carries scripture, music carries memory and processions become a living archive of devotion …

On 1 March 2025, four large-scale public protests unfolded across Kolkata, Lalbagh and Basirhat, not over unemployment, local violence, or civic distress, but over the death of a foreign ruler thousands of kilometres away. A commemorative gathering was organised for the late Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei in Sakchura Sarania of Basirhat. Hundreds of demonstrators …

At least ten Hindu devotees, including women, were severely injured on February 25 after a mob allegedly led by Rokon Uddin attacked a peaceful protest in Aruail Union under Sarail Upazila of Brahmanbaria. The demonstrators had gathered to oppose the alleged illegal occupation of land belonging to the 213-year-old Shri Shri Mohanlal Jiu Temple in …

When Devotion Turned to Darkness When the hymns of devotion that had drifted across rural Bhola finally fell silent, a crime of unspeakable brutality emerged from the shadows. On the fourth night of the five-day long Tirodhan Utsav honoring Achyudananda Brahmachari, more than 100,000 devotees had gathered in Aralia village of Tazumuddin Upazila for kirtan and prayer on …

In Marichbunia village under Patuakhali Sadar Upazila, a land dispute involving a Hindu family has escalated into allegations of assault, intimidation and attempted dispossession. The accused Zakir Bhuiya has firmly denied all accusations. The Dispute Gopal Mali, a resident of Marichbunia, alleges that locally influential individuals attempted to forcibly occupy his 40-decimals of his ancestral …

In two separate corners of Bangladesh, within days of each other, the rule of law was tested and found wavering. One man was beaten for trying to stop illegal bird hunting. A minority family was attacked for protesting vandalism. Different districts. Different triggers but the same message that intimidation works when enforcement hesitates. These are …

India has once again been reminded that the threat of terror is a persistent, adaptive reality and not a distant headline. In a coordinated operation spanning two states, security agencies arrested eight Islamists allegedly linked to the Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba. According to officials, the arrests have potentially thwarted a larger conspiracy aimed at destabilizing …

On 12 February 2026, a fifteen-year-old girl named Shefali Barman died by suicide in Jamaldah under the jurisdiction of Mekhliganj Police Station in Cooch Behar. She was a Class X student of Jamaldah Tulsi Devi High School and had just appeared for her Madhyamik examination, a milestone meant to mark the beginning of her future. …