Hundreds of Hindus in Bangladesh congregated near the Indian border in hopes of escaping, security authorities said on Thursday.
After Hasina was overthrown, several Hindu-owned houses and businesses were assaulted, and some in Bangladesh, which has a mainly Muslim population, believe that the organization was close to Hasina.
The deputy inspector general of India’s Border Security Force (BSF), Amit Kumar Tyagi, told AFP that “a few hundred Bangladeshi nationals, mostly Hindus, gathered at different points along India’s border with Bangladesh.”
In West Bengal state, more than 200 people were “standing close” to the border with India.
Tyagi said that more than 600 Bangladeshis had assembled in a no-man’s land in the state’s Jalpaiguri region.
He claimed, “BSF personnel formed a human shield to keep them at distance as there is no fence here.”
He said that in order to disperse the masses, officers fired a blank shot into the air. After almost a month of violent protests, Hasina, 76, who had held the position since 2009, announced her resignation on Monday.
While there has been a significant improvement in Bangladesh’s security situation, there have been rumors of retaliatory assaults against her followers and party leaders.
At least ten Hindu temples were assaulted on Monday by “miscreants,” according to a statement made earlier this week by the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council.
In the southern Bagerhat area of the nation, one man from the community was fatally assaulted, according to a medical official who spoke to AFP under condition of anonymity.