Bangladesh has rejected India’s official press note on an attempted attack near the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi, questioning why Hindu extremist groups were allowed to approach the diplomatic mission, Foreign Affairs Adviser Touhid Hossain said on Sunday.

Speaking to reporters at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on December 21, Touhid said the Bangladeshi high commissioner’s family in New Delhi was feeling threatened and insecure.

The adviser said the Bangladesh mission in New Delhi is located within a highly secured diplomatic zone, raising serious concerns over how Hindu extremist elements were allowed to enter the area. Such an incident, he said, was unexpected and pointed to lapses in standard security protocols.

Touhid also rejected attempts to link the killing of a Bangladeshi citizen with broader minority security issues, saying the victim was a Bangladeshi national and that the government had taken immediate action.

He said several suspects had already been arrested, but criticised the way the incident was being portrayed, calling it unacceptable. While acknowledging India’s assurance to review mission security, he said Bangladesh believed routine security measures had not been properly enforced.

Earlier, India’s Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement that around 20 to 25 youths gathered in front of the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi on Saturday to protest the killing of Dipu Chandra Das in Mymensingh.

According to the statement, the demonstrators raised slogans and called for the protection of minority communities in Bangladesh.

India’s foreign ministry claimed that at no point did the protesters attempt to breach the security perimeter of the High Commission and that police on the scene dispersed them after a short time.