Some radical Islamists vandalised and set on fire the houses of several Hindu families in Bangladesh’s Comilla district over rumours about an alleged Facebook post slandering Islam, prompting authorities to order stern punitive actions against the culprits, officials said on Monday.
The households were vandalised and later set on fire on Sunday after a Bangladeshi man, who lives in France, allegedly praised President Emmanuel Macron for taking steps against “inhumane ideologies” after a teacher in Paris was decapitated for showing caricatures of the Prophet, officials said.
The headmaster of a kindergarten school in Purbo Dhour and another person reportedly shared his comments welcoming Macron’s action in a comment on the post which was spread on social media with the claim that the headmaster supported caricatures of the Prophet.
As the rumours about the Facebook post spread, tension mounted in the area on Saturday.
The village chief, himself a Hindu, handed them to police. They were produced before a local court which denied bail and sent them to jail pending trial. The police launched a case under the Digital Security Act against them.
“Orders have been issued to arrest anyone who appeared as suspects alongside launching routine legal procedures against those involved,” Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told PTI.