Event Summary
On 20 November 2025, Baul singer Abul Sarkar was arrested on allegations of hurting religious sentiment during a pala gaan performance on 4 November at the Khala Pagli fair in Jabra, Ghior. Following his arrest, supporters announced a peaceful human chain demanding his unconditional release. Around 10:30 am on 23 November, during this peaceful rally near the Shaheed Miraj–Tapan Stadium in Manikganj, counter-protesters identifying themselves as Tawhidi Janata launched a violent attack.
At least three artists were injured, sustaining head and body injuries requiring stitches. Video footage shows Baul followers fleeing into a pond to escape beatings as attackers chanted threat-intensifying slogans targeting Baul followers. Police officers present appeared reluctant to intervene until after the violence escalated. One of the injured followers later filed a case at Manikganj Sadar Police Station, naming unknown assailants.
The incident reflects a wider surge of hostility against Bauls, fakirs, and shrine-goers across Bangladesh. Over the past year and a half, the country has witnessed numerous assaults on shrines, including arson, vandalism, exhumation of bodies, forced cutting of Bauls’ hair, closure of musical gatherings, and harassment of devotees.
Civil society, rights defenders, and cultural organisations have strongly criticised the arrest and the subsequent violence. Transparency International Bangladesh publicly condemned the arrest and warned of the growing threat of extremism to artistic freedom and civic space. Multiple CSOs and cultural bodies described the attack as part of a broader erosion of cultural pluralism.
The rapid detention of Abul Sarkar for expressing himself during an artistic event -contrasted with continued failure to investigate and prosecute cases of violence against religious minorities-illustrates selective enforcement and rising impunity, deepening risks for cultural expression, community safety, and Bangladesh’s syncretic heritage.