Is blasphemy illegal in Bangladesh?
Criminal offense
Bangladesh's blasphemy laws prohibit hurting religious sentiments, with the government rejecting calls for death penalty but maintaining criminal penalties.
Bangladesh is one of 40 countries classified “Criminal offense” for blasphemy — 70% of the 57 with data.
Source
- Taken from
- Wikipedia: Blasphemy law
- Last checked
- 7 July 2026
- How it was classified
- Classified by a language model from the source text, then checked against hand-verified reference countries.
Nearby countries
- India
- Criminal offense India has blasphemy laws under Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code, intended to prevent insulting religions and outrage religious feelings.
- Myanmar
- Criminal offense Myanmar has blasphemy laws under Sections 295A and 298 of the Penal Code, with penalties including imprisonment and fines for outraging religious feelings.
- Nepal
- Criminal offense Nepal criminalized hurting religious sentiment with up to two years imprisonment and a fine under Section 9.156 of the new criminal code.
- Thailand
- Criminal offense Thailand has blasphemy laws under the 1956 penal code and Sangha Act, with imprisonment penalties for insulting Buddhism or religious beliefs.
- China
- Criminal offense China has laws against blasphemy, with examples of arrests and book bans related to insulting Islam, though not explicitly defined as blasphemy.
- Pakistan
- Death penalty possible Pakistan has a death penalty for blasphemy under section 295-C, with many death sentences.
Other laws in Bangladesh
- Apostasy Laws
- Criminal offense
- Holocaust Denial
- No specific law
- Conversion Therapy
- No ban
A visual reference compiled from Wikipedia’s law-by-country articles, not legal advice. Laws change and summaries simplify — check a primary source before relying on anything here.