NEW DELHI: India has suspended visa operations at its Assistant High Commission in Chittagong citing safety concerns for staff and premises after a wave of protests with an anti-India tenor erupted in Bangladesh. The unrest followed the death of radical activist Sharif Osman Hadi and coincided with the lynching of a Hindu man, prompting strong reactions from New Delhi.
The Indian Visa Application Centre (IVAC) said visa services in Chittagong will remain suspended from December 21, 2025, until further notice due to a recent security incident. Demonstrators reportedly came close to the Indian diplomatic facility on Thursday despite the presence of Bangladeshi security personnel.
India described as “horrendous” the killing of 25-year-old Dipu Chandra Das, a garment factory worker beaten to death by a mob and set ablaze over alleged blasphemy. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) urged Dhaka to bring the perpetrators to justice and rejected attempts to draw parallels between protests near Indian facilities in Bangladesh and a small demonstration outside the Bangladesh mission in Delhi.
MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said about 20–25 youths briefly gathered outside the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi on Saturday to protest Dipu’s killing, but there was no breach or security threat; police dispersed the group within minutes. Claims to the contrary were dismissed as “misleading propaganda,” the MEA said, adding that visual evidence is publicly available.
Bangladesh’s foreign affairs adviser Md Touhid Hossain said the incident should not be conflated with minority security and noted that arrests had been made in the case. He also claimed protests in New Delhi left the Bangladeshi high commissioner and family feeling threatened—an assertion India rebutted.
Earlier, the residence of the Assistant Indian High Commissioner in Chittagong was pelted with stones on the day Hadi died, days after he was shot by masked assailants. Large anti-India protests were also reported outside Indian missions in Khulna and Rajshahi, and around the High Commission in Dhaka.
India said it is closely monitoring the evolving situation and remains in contact with Bangladeshi authorities, conveying strong concerns over attacks on minorities. By Sunday, two more arrests were reported in the Mymensingh lynching case, taking the total to 12.
The internal situation in Bangladesh has been tense since Hadi—a prominent face of the 2024 anti-government protests that preceded former prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s exit—was killed. Hadi was known for anti-India rhetoric and links to a radical group that had circulated irredentist claims.
