Barbaric arson attacks on the properties of Hindus show no signs of abating. Miscreants burnt down a temple at Sonagazi in Feni on Wednesday and set fire to a jute warehouse in Narail yesterday.
Police arrested a Shibir activist while he was fleeing after exploding a handmade bomb inside another temple at Moulvibazar on Wednesday night.
Prof Mizanur Rahman, chairman of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), yesterday visited the affected villages in Thakurgaon and apologised to Hindus for the communal attacks.
He also urged the government to rehabilitate them.
The Dakkhineshwar Kali Temple at Chhoraitkandi in Sonagazi was burnt to ashes. Miscreants might have used petrol to burn the semi-pucca structure of the temple, reports our Feni correspondent, quoting police and locals.
Local police arrested a person after the temple committee filed a case in connection with the arson attack.
Joint forces arrested Sadikur Rahman Sadik, a 10th grader of Jamia Islamia Dakhil Madrasa and also a Shibir activist, on the charge of hurling a crude bomb inside the Kalibari Bazar Temple at Borolekha upazila of Moulvibazar on Wednesday.
The arrest was made when Sadik, 19, son of Abdul Malik of Mohammad Nagar village in the upazila, attempted to flee after blasting the bomb. A mask was recovered from his possession.
“We will interrogate him [Sadik],” Abul Hashem, officer-in-charge (OC) of Borolekha Police Station, told The Daily Star.
Meanwhile, criminals set fire to a jute warehouse, owned by a local Hindu businessman, at Agdia Bazaar in Narail Sadar Upazila, early yesterday.
On information, fire fighters rushed to the spot and doused the blaze after three hours of hectic efforts.
Kumaresh Mojumder, owner of the warehouse, claimed that around 1,050 maunds of jute were gutted in the fire. “Someone might have carried out the arson attack in sheer jealousy,” he said.
Deputy Commissioner Md Abdul Goffar Khan, district police super, among others, visited the spot.
While visiting the affected villages of Hindus in Thakurgaon yesterday, the NHRC chairman said “We cannot avoid the responsibility of such cruel attacks on innocent people.”
“You must never think that you are alone and helpless as you are citizens of the country like everyone else,” he said.
Mizanur demanded exemplary punishment for the perpetrators of the attacks.
Meanwhile, police arrested Ripon Mia, general secretary of Pogla Union BNP, yesterday for his alleged involvement in setting fire to a Kali temple at Bottola village in Netrakona on January 8.