The Khilkhet Sarbojanin Shri Shri Durga Temple in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, has now been officially demolished by state authorities. Acting on a directive issued on Wednesday (June 24, 2025) by Md. Nasir Uddin Mahmood, Deputy Commissioner and Divisional Estate Officer of the Dhaka Division of Bangladesh Railway, the temple was torn down early Thursday morning.
The Khilkhet Durga Temple, constructed with corrugated tin sheets, had stood for over half a century. It hosted annual Durga Puja celebrations and housed a permanent idol of Goddess Kali. Daily rituals and worship continued there, and the temple was a spiritual and emotional anchor for the local Hindu community.
On the night of June 24, a group of Muslim men led by Mufti Mahmudul Hasan, proprietor of Islamia Sweet & Live Bakery, and Abdul Quddus, president of the Khilkhet unit of the Bangladesh Workers’ Welfare Federation, attacked the temple. Alongside attempts at vandalism, they issued an ultimatum demanding that the temple be dismantled by noon the next day. They tried to break the temple’s furniture, hurled verbal abuse at devotees, and even issued death threats.
Shyamal Chandra Das, General Secretary of the temple committee, said:
“They didn’t listen to a word. They stormed in and started smashing things. They screamed, ‘This temple cannot stay here. By noon tomorrow, we’ll tear it down ourselves.’ We now live in constant fear for our safety.”
The following day, leaders and activists of Hindu Mahajot and other Sanatani (Hindu) organizations gathered at the temple premises to protest the attack. Yet, on June 26, the Yunus-led fundamentalist regime sent in bulldozers and demolished the temple entirely.
As the temple was brought down, distraught Hindu men and women broke down in tears. A large contingent of military and police forces arrived at the site from the Purbachal Army Camp in Dhaka early in the morning, accompanied by bulldozers. Protesters—both men and women—sat in front of the temple in peaceful resistance, but the army forcibly removed them and proceeded with the demolition.
