Human rights conditions in Bangladesh remain under strain more than a year after the fall of the Awami League government on 5 August 2024. Hopes that the post-uprising transition would bring meaningful improvements have largely faded, as reports of custodial deaths, arbitrary detention, harassment through criminal cases and rising mob violence continue to unsettle the public. Confidence in the police and civil administration has not rebounded, and growing “mob justice” has emerged as a new source of fear.
Despite assurances from the interim authorities, the long-promised National Human Rights Commission has yet to be reconstituted—an absence rights groups say reflects weak political commitment. On Wednesday, organisations marked International Human Rights Day with programmes under the theme “Human Rights: Our Everyday Essentials”, but many activists noted the symbolism felt hollow against the country’s lived realities.
Rights advocate Nur Khan Liton told TIMES of Bangladesh that the situation remains “at risk” and has not improved to the level citizens expected after the August uprising. He pointed to continuing custodial deaths, mob killings, extortion and public humiliation, with no strong state response.
Thousands of people, he said, still face harassment, torture and intimidation through politically motivated cases. Attacks on minority homes, arson, and political reprisals persist, while deaths in custody remain a source of deep concern.
Data from Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK) show a broad pattern of violence and abuse. Between January and October this year, 165 people died in mob attacks, 35 in law-enforcement custody, 90 in political violence and 83 inside prisons. Three hundred and fifty-one journalists faced harassment. Over 70 women were raped and more than 200 subjected to sexual assault. Two hundred and eighty-one children were murdered. There were 65 incidents of religious conflict.
ASK’s 2024 figures show similarly troubling patterns: 128 people killed by mobs, 21 deaths in police or prison custody, and 100 deaths with more than 6,000 injuries in political violence. More than 500 journalists were assaulted or harassed, and 2,443 women and children suffered violence.
The Human Rights Support Society (HRSS) also reports that the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus has failed to deliver the expected stabilisation in rights and security.
Reviewing the first 11 months of 2025, the group notes a decline in enforced disappearances and crossfire killings—but an increase in political clashes, mob violence, beatings and killings by vigilante groups, attacks on women, assaults on journalists and vandalism at religious shrines.
Interference with free expression, custodial deaths, attacks on workers, child abuse, minority persecution and obstructions on public gatherings have all been documented, it added.
In these 11 months, political violence alone left 114 people dead and more than 6,000 injured. Four hundred and seventy-five journalists were assaulted or harassed. Mob attacks killed 142 people and injured 209 persons. Seventy-six died in police or prison custody. Eighty-three workers were killed in labour-related violence, and nearly 1,800 women and children faced abuse.
Figures from the Manobadhikar Sangskriti Foundation (MSF) for 2024 show similarly stark numbers: 146 mob killings, 108 deaths in custody, and 89 deaths with over 4,800 injured in political clashes. More than 700 journalists endured harassment or assault, and nearly 1,500 women and children suffered violence.
Supreme Court lawyer Jyotirmoy Barua says the absence of a functioning Human Rights Commission confirms that rights protections are not treated as a priority. A draft law has been prepared but remains stalled.
He argues that neither the law-and-order situation nor the broader human rights climate shows meaningful improvement. Instead, comments by the government’s home affairs adviser have increased public anxiety.
On the eve of Human Rights Day, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) wrote to the chief adviser demanding the release of four imprisoned journalists: Farzana Rupa, Shakil Ahmed, Mozammel Babu and Shyamal Dutta.
The letter says their detention on murder charges appears “incredible, unsupported by evidence, and seemingly retaliatory” based on their journalism or presumed political affiliations.
For many rights groups, the transition that began with widespread public mobilisation in 2024 has yet to translate into institutional reform. With a human rights commission still absent and violence persisting across multiple sectors, the hope that the uprising would usher in a new rights era has given way to frustration and renewed fear.
