The police has received reports of 44 incidents of vandalism perpetrated on 40 shrines, including mazar, sufi graveyards and dargahs, in some areas of the country since August 4, 2024.
The incidents include vandalism and attacks on shrines and the devotees, looting of shrine properties, setting fire on the shrines, according to a police report shared by the Chief Adviser鈥檚 Office press wing on Saturday.
The report said that 17 attacks, which is the highest number of incidents, were reported in Dhaka division, 10 and seven incidents reported respectively in Chattogram and Mymensing divisions. Four attacks were carried out on a single shrine in Sherpur district under Mymensingh division.
鈥楲egal actions have been taken in all of the 44 attack incidents. These actions include filing of 15 regular cases and 29 general diaries with different police stations on receiving complaints from the aggrieved persons or suo moto by the police,鈥� said the report, adding that 23 alleged miscreants were arrested in those cases.
Charge-sheets have already been submitted to the court in two regular cases. Investigations in 13 other regular cases and 29 General Diaries were ongoing, it said.
The police took all appropriate measures to ensure the safety and security of the shrines across the country, the report said.
All the aggrieved individuals were requested to file complaints with the police, it said, adding that steps were also taken to solve the issues locally by arranging peace meetings with the confronting parties.
Sensitisation programmes have also been emphasised keeping participation of mass people and Islamic leaders through community policing efforts, said the report.
The report said that the interim government held zero tolerance policy towards any attacks on shrines.
All the police units had been ordered to investigate the cases stringently and arrest all those involved in the attacks, it added.