Bangladesh: Teenager Nupur facing threats

Please pray for 17 year-old Nupur (not her real name) who is facing threats from extremists after she was recently kidnapped, but rescued.

On the evening of April 2nd, 2021, Nupur and her cousin, Rekha*, were walking home from their college classes. While walking, the two girls were stopped and kidnapped by a group of Muslim men. Three days later, both Nupur and Rekha were rescued by the authorities. The girls were found in two different parts of the country, one in the capital city, and the other in a neighboring district.

By the time they were rescued, the two girls had already been forced to converted to Islam. Rekha was also legally married to one of the kidnappers. As heart-wrenching as it was, Rekha had to return to her husband as she was legally married to him, whereas Nupur was able to go back to her family.

“Nupur and Rekha were very bright students,” said Nupur’s uncle, “They are very good at music and dance. They have goodwill among the local people. The Muslim people do not like this, because they are Christian. For this reason, they intentionally have done this to them. Now, their lives are destroyed.”

But the kidnapper has not stopped tormenting Nupur and her family. He wants to marry Nupur and is now threatening to kidnap her again. The young man has called on the phone, threatening to snatch Nupur away from her family. Nupur does not want to marry him, neither do her parents want her to marry him.

The kidnapper said to her parents, “If you don’t give her to me, I’ll just take her myself!”

Unsurprisingly, Nupur is very fearful. She does not go out at all – instead she’s staying in the safety of her family home.

“We cannot guard her all the time,” said Nupur’s uncle, “We have to go out for work. We do not know how many days we can protect her. Every single moment we live under fear and insecurity. We are depressed and frustrated. On the other hand, it is very difficult to fight with the Muslims.”

Nupur’s father said, “We don’t know what to do now. He is constantly calling over the phone and threatening us. We are guarding our daughter, but we don’t know how many days we can do this. They are Muslim and they are powerful. We cannot fight with them.”

They have now filed a case on this matter.

Kidnap, forced marriage and the continuing threats highlights the fact that in many places, young Christian girls are doubly vulnerable to persecution because of their faith and gender. Please pray for Nupir and Rekha now…

*Names changed for security reasons.