After Hadi, Another Bangladesh Student Leader Shot in Head

Minority Groups Protest Over Govt's Failure to Address Persecution of Minorities

PTI, DHAKA, DEC 22, 2025 : Unidentified gunmen on Monday shot Motaleb Shikder, a second leader of Bangladesh's violent student-led 2024 uprising, in the head. The attack took place in southwestern Khulna city, days after the killing of prominent youth leader Sharif Osman Hadi.

"The Khulna Division head of NCP (National Citizen Party) and central coordinator of the party's workers' front, Motaleb Shikder, was shot a few minutes ago," NCP's joint principal coordinator Mahmuda Mitu said in a Facebook post. Mitu, a doctor, said Shikder was rushed to Khulna Medical College Hospital in critical condition.

The Kaler Kantha newspaper, quoting hospital sources, said Shikder was shot on the left side of his head, and he was bleeding profusely when he was brought to the facility, where doctors started emergency treatment. The attack came days after Hadi, a prominent leader of the student-led protests last year that led to the ouster of the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government, was shot in the head on December 12 by masked gunmen at an election campaign in central Dhaka's Bijoynagar area.

The 32-year-old Inqilab Mancha spokesperson died while undergoing treatment in Singapore on Thursday. Hadi was a candidate for the scheduled February 12 general elections. The interim government of Muhammad Yunus staged a nationwide mourning for Hadi's death on Saturday and said no stone would be left unturned to track down his killers as violence erupted in Dhaka and other major cities afresh over the attack and subsequent death.

Meanwhile, minority groups in Bangladesh on Monday held a protest in the national capital over the interim government's failure to prevent the persecution of minorities, as authorities announced the arrest of 21 suspects linked to the lynching of a Hindu man, attacks on media offices, and violent demonstrations near an Indian diplomatic mission.

Leaders of Hindu and other minority organisations on Monday formed a human chain in Dhaka against the lynching of Dipu Chandra Das, saying the interim government has failed to stop violence, killings, and persecution of minority communities.

Das, a garment factory worker in central Mymensingh city, was dragged out of the factory by a mob and lynched to death on Thursday. His body was then set on fire. His killing sparked widespread protests by factory workers, students, and rights groups, while India expressed concerns as well.

"He (Muhammad Yunus) claims he will build a humane Bangladesh, but in reality, he is an inhumane chief adviser," Joint Coordinator of the Minority Unity Front Manindra Kumar Nath told the protesters in front of Jatiya Press Club. The Hindu population in Bangladesh has been affected by a series of incidents against minority communities in the country after the ouster of then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in August last year.

Meanwhile, the anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested 10 suspects over the lynching of Das. Later, police arrested two more suspects. A police headquarters spokesman on Monday said 12 people were now in jail or custody as investigations were underway about the killing of Das. The office of the interim government chief, who earlier called Das' killing a "brutal crime", on Monday said nine people were arrested over the violent attack on the mass circulation Prothom Alo and Daily Star newspapers and prestigious cultural groups Chhayanat and Udichi Shilpi Goshthi in the capital.