ASIA/BANGLADESH - Murdered a 91-year-old Catholic: the community asks for justice

Barisal (Agenzia Fides) - Malkam D'Costa, a 91-year-old Catholic, was murdered in his house in the village of Padrishbpur in Barisal, in south-central Bangladesh. According to the local Church, the man was drugged and with him five other family members who are now hospitalized due to the same intentional administration of drugs or narcotics.
D'Costa was found lifeless yesterday morning, February 2. According to the villagers, it was an act of violence intentionally committed against the family. The incident has created a mixture of animosity, fear and anxiety among the Christian people in the village and the district. Yesterday, February 2, about 100 people held a protest demonstration against the murders and attacks on Christians in the village of Padrishbpur. Christians demand security and protection.
Mgr. Lawrence Subrato Howlader, Archbishop of Chattogram, visited the affected families and expressed his spiritual closeness.
According to Fr. Anol Terence D'Costa, director of the Commission for Social Communications of the Diocese of Barisal, "the Christian community is facing these persecutions basically because, as a religious minority, it is very vulnerable and unprotected, while violence comes with impunity.
Bangladeshi Christians demand justice, dignity and freedom to practice their religion". Local Catholics and civil society groups are calling for justice, recalling that another Catholic woman from the same town was drugged and raped last year, while her husband, a night watchman at a Catholic school, was not present at the time of the incident. The woman accused Mohammad Alam, a Muslim man, and Alam's family urged her to drop the charges against her. In Bangladesh, out of 169 million people, 85% of whom are Muslim, Hindus make up about 10% of the population, while Christians are about 1%, including 400,000 Catholics. (SD) (Agenzia Fides, 3/2/2022)

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violence

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human rights

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