The Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances has concluded that incidents in Bangladesh over the past 15 years were not isolated, but part of a well‑planned, institutional, and politically driven crime.
Its final report reveals the brutal incidents of enforced disappearances.
The government has released the 229‑page report containing testimonies from victims and evidence of crimes committed by officials from different forces. It has now made the findings accessible to the public, with the full report available for download on its official website.
The report titled “Unfolding the Truth: A Structural Diagnosis of Enforced Disappearance in Bangladesh”, was published on Tuesday. The report reveals the grim truth of enforced disappearances, showing they were done in a planned and organised way.
According to the commission, enforced disappearances were not a matter of a single party’s politics. To illustrate this, the report includes accounts of torture suffered by several victims. The commission said that during Sheikh Hasina’s rule, which ended after the student‑public uprising, enforced disappearances affected everyone.
The commission reported that 211 uniformed personnel, including 100 from the army, 98 from the police, and five from the BGB, had been interrogated. At least 13 secret detention centres where torture and enforced disappearances occurred were identified, according to the report.
One account describes the torture of a student activist from Islami Chhatra Shibir. He told the commission, “They kept me outside their torture room. Whenever very loud music was being played, I knew someone was being beaten. The screams were so intense that I would feel the urge to defecate. My eyes were blindfolded continuously for two months, causing unbearable pain, as if everything would tear apart. Later, when I was released, I had to undergo surgery because the retinal endings in my eye had ruptured.”
The report also documents the torture of a female student victim. She said, “They tied my hands outstretched, almost like being crucified, and hung me. They took away my scarf, leaving me uncovered. Since my face was toward the window, countless men kept coming to watch, it’s beyond description. They mocked me, saying, ‘She used to be so strict about veiling, now all her veils are gone.’”
She further said, “My menstrual cycle was delayed, but due to the torture I became so ill that it started immediately. When I asked for sanitary pads, they laughed and mocked me.”
The commission recently submitted the final report to Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus at the state guesthouse Jamuna. The Chief Adviser’s press wing released the 229‑page report on Tuesday.
The government published the link here.
