Bangladesh mob beats, burns man to death on blasphemy charges

Angry locals in Lalmonirhat’s Burimari have burnt a man to death after beating him up for alleged blasphemy.

The incident occurred on the Lalmonirhat-Burimari Highway near Burimari Land Port on Thursday evening.

“We’ve heard that the angry locals beat the man to death on hearing that he had made blasphemous remarks about the Quran,” said Sumon Kumar Mohanta, the OC of Patgram Police Station.

The victim could not be identified.

Locals said a man came on a motorcycle and entered a mosque after the evening prayers.

Hundreds of people gathered after hearing that the person said bad stuff about the Quran at the mosque.

Some of the locals took the man to Burimari union council office in a bid to save him from the mob, but the angry mob broke into the office and beat him up after dragging him out.

They set fire to the man and his motorcycle afterwards, killing him on the spot.

No official in the local administration agreed to comment on the incident.

Ruhul Amin Babul, the chairman of Patgram Upazila council, Qamrunnahar, Upazila executive officer, and OC Sumon rushed to the scene after hearing about the incident but they could not pacify the angry locals.

Two other men were injured in the incident. They are Sultan Zobayer Abbas, 51, and “Sharif”, 22.

Sultan was admitted to the Patgram Upazila Health Complex while Sharif was sent to the Rangpur Medical College Hospital.