The Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities (HRCBM) reports that 342 rape cases were officially recorded in less than three months in 2025 under the interim government. Around the 2026 national election, several incidents again exposed the scale of violence. A female factory worker filed a gang-rape case against four men, including two former leaders of Students Against Discrimination (SAD), Sijan Mahmud and Nafiz Ahmed. Shortly afterward, two Ansar members, Shahadat Hossain and Abu Sayed, were arrested for allegedly raping a woman at a hospital in Manikganj.
Violence continued after the election. A woman in Hatia was gang-raped, and a group later returned to vandalize her home and assault her while referencing how she voted. Two weeks later, a teenage girl was reportedly gang-raped and murdered after attempting to seek justice; five people have been arrested, including former BNP member Ahmad Ali Dewan and his son.
Recent cases further illustrate the brutality. An eight-year-old girl was raped and found with her throat slit at Sitakunda Botanical Garden and Ecopark; she later died at Chattogram Medical College Hospital. On 4 March 2026, in Ukhiya, Cox’s Bazar, the body of a partially undressed woman was recovered with signs of strangulation and other injuries.
Across governments and political transitions, violence against women and children continues with alarming regularity. BDFA condemns successive governments for allowing the normalization of abuse while survivors face stigma, doubt, and bureaucratic barriers that often protect powerful perpetrators.
The state must act urgently. Justice cannot stop at arrests; Bangladesh must also confront the misogyny that fuels this violence among men and boys and among those who have internalized patriarchal norms.
The state must strengthen laws protecting women, children, and marginalized communities while ensuring these protections are truly accessible. Without dismantling the culture enabling violence, women and children will continue to lose.
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