On Friday (4th July), Muslim students studying at the Chittagong University in Bangladesh harassed a Hindu Professor named Dr Kushal Baran Chakraborty and forcibly stopped his promotion.
Dr Chakraborty is an Assistant Professor of Sanskrit at the varsity. He was being considered for promotion to the position of Associate Professor.
As part of the procedure, the Hindu faculty was called in at the office of the Vice-Chancellor for an interview by the University board.
However, Muslim students gathered outside the office building in a pre-planned manner and began creating a ruckus. Many of them were members of the radical Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS), the student wing of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami.
They demanded the cancellation of the promotion board and expulsion of the Hindu Professor from the varsity. To force the administration into submission, they locked down the building.
Later, Islami Chhatra Shibir leader Habibullah Khaled was seen inside the Vice-Chancellor’s office and harassing Dr Kushal Baran Chakraborty. He was heard yelling at the top of his voice and pointing fingers at the Hindu Professor.
Dr Chakraborty is a member of the Sanatani Jagran Jote and the Sanatan Vidyarthi Sangsad of the Chittagong University. He is a vocal Hindu activist, who speaks out against atrocities committed against the minority community in Bangladesh.
As such, attempts were made to demonise Dr Chakraborty as a ‘murder accused’ and a facilitator of ‘oppression’ under the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government.
Muslim students succeed in cancelling promotion of Hindu Professor
While speaking to the media, the Hindu faculty informed, “The allegations brought by students against me are completely baseless. I was not involved in any criminal offence. It seems someone is instigating the students.”
Dr Chakraborty was harassed and blocked in the office of the Vice-Chancellor for about 3 hours. He was later escorted to his house in a university vehicle in the evening.
In the meantime, the pressure tactics of the Muslim students succeeded as the varsity cancelled the promotion board. Dr Chakraborty informed that he was threatened by the Associate Vice-Chancellor, Md. Kamal Uddin
The university’s acting registrar, Mohammad Saiful Islam, also condoned the harassment of the Hindu Sanskrit Professor by Muslim students and dubbed it as consequence of the victim’s past actions.
Another member of the administration, Dr Shamim Uddin justified, “When students began protesting against his promotion, saying he was named in an attempted murder case, we decided to suspend the board meeting.”
Hindus stage protest
Hindus who are part of the ‘Sanatani Jagran Jote’ staged a protest at Dhaka University on Friday (4th July) against the targeted harassment of Dr Kushal Baran Chakraborty.
They also demanded the safety and security of the Hindu Professor. Activist Suman Kumar Roy remarked, “Today, dictatorship reigns supreme in this country. There is no rule of law here. It also seems that there is no democratic government in the country.
Since the undemocratic ouster of Sheikh Hasina as Prime Minister of Bangladesh by violent ‘student activists’ on 5th August 2025, several teachers and Professors belonging to the Hindu minority community were forced to resign.
Gplus had reported how students who gherao Hindu faculties and coerce them into resigning. If the Hindu teachers did not give in to their demand, they were threatened with physical harm and violence.
Bangladesh witnessed a drastic rise in Islamism after Muhammad Yunus came to power. He first revoked the ban on the radical Islamist outfit ‘Jamaat-e-Islami.’ Thereafter, he released the leader of the radical outfit ‘Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT)’ Muhammad Jasimuddin Rahmani.
Within less than a month by setting the never seen before predicament of wholesale purge of teachers from #minority communities in #education institutions, the mob leaders has marked the institutionalisation of intolerance among students, a shot in the arm for toxic narratives.… pic.twitter.com/d5r4HCZOpF
— Bangladesh Awami League (@albd1971) August 31, 2024
At the same time, Muhammad Yunus downplayed the targeted attacks on the Hindu community by violent Muslim mobs. He has gone on record from lamenting about attacks on Hindus to saying that the claims of atrocities are ‘exaggerated‘.
