Man accused of insulting Prophet Mohammed on Facebook that led to Muslim mob burning down a Hindu village in Bangladesh is illiterate and cannot have posted it, say his family

  • Trouble flared in the village of Thakurbari, Bangladesh, over a Facebook post
  • It was reported a villager had insulted Prophet Mohammed on social media
  • A 20,000-strong mob marched on the village, burning and looting houses
  • Protesters clashed with police and one person was killed and five others injured 
  • The social media post insulting the Propet Muhammed that led to a mob of angry Muslims burning down a Hindu village in Bangladesh was allegedly made on a fake account.

    One person was killed and at least five more seriously injured after 20,000 Muslims attacked Hindu homes in the village of Thakurbari, in the Rangpur Sadar region of the country, last Friday.

    The mob had been angered by a ‘blasphemous’ Facebook post published under the name of Titu Roy, a young man living in the area, but his family say it cannot have been written by him as he is illiterate.

    A mob of angry Muslims burned down a Hindu village in Bangladesh after a rumor spread a local had insulted Prophet Mohammed on Facebook

    A mob of angry Muslims burned down a Hindu village in Bangladesh after a rumor spread a local had insulted Prophet Mohammed on Facebook

    ‘We had heard that a Facebook ID named after Titu spread rumours and caused all the tension here. But my brother cannot even read a word,’ Titu’s younger brother Bipul Chandra told a local newspaper.

    ‘How can he run a Facebook ID? We think someone else opened an ID and named it after Titu.’

    By the time police arrived at the village last Friday at least 30 homes had already been burned down while others had been looted and vandalised, according to the Dhaka Tribune.

    The crowd was made up of residents from between six and seven neighbouring villages, including Paglapeer, Mominpur and Horialkuthi.

    One person was killed and at least five more seriously injured after 20,000 Muslims attacked Hindu homes in the village of Thakurbari, in the Rangpur Sadar region of the country

    One person was killed and at least five more seriously injured after 20,000 Muslims attacked Hindu homes in the village of Thakurbari, in the Rangpur Sadar region of the country

    They clashed with police who fired rubber bullets to control the crowds.

    Six people went to Rangpur Medical College Hospital with bullet injuries and one of them, a youth named as Hamidul Islam, later died of his injuries, according to local media.

    The mob later protested against the police response to the attack, blocking the Rangpur-Dinajpur highway for around four hours.

    Local magistrates are investigating the incident and families affected by the riot were being assisted by authorities, it was reported.