Nearly every room was vandalised, property was looted, and parts of the building were set on fire. Police and army personnel arrived shortly after the incident, brought the situation under control, and extinguished the flames. Members of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) were also present at the scene.

Within the scarred walls of Chhayanaut, the repair of a broken harmonium is more than a maintenance task, it is an act of institutional defiance.

The desecration of Chhayanaut, Bangladesh’s preeminent bastion of music and Bengali culture, has prompted an urgent political intervention from one of the nation’s most celebrated musicians, Shayan Chowdhury Arnob.