The disappearance of a fourth-grade girl in Pabna ended in a nightmare no family should have to face. A week after she went missing, her dismembered body was found in a pond beside her home.
Investigators said the child was raped and murdered before her body was cut into pieces, packed in a sack, tied with bricks and dumped in the water. The killers later tried to move the remains into a septic tank but abandoned the attempt after dogs gathered there because of the foul smell. A post-mortem examination confirmed evidence of rape and murder.
The child went missing on September 9 and her remains were recovered a week later.
The tragedy has renewed concerns over child safety, highlighting not only crime and law enforcement failures but also the challenges of parenting and supervision in increasingly busy households.
The murder of 13-year-old Ishayat Shahriar Apratim in Cumilla has brought similar concerns into focus.
Several sociology and criminology professors told TIMES that such incidents reflect deeper problems involving family, social, and institutional structures.
For Karib Rahman, a private-sector marketing officer based in Chattogram, and his wife, a medical specialist at Bangladesh Thalassaemia Foundation in Dhaka, balancing work and parenting has become a daily struggle.
Because of their busy schedules, the couple cannot regularly spend enough time with their two children. The children travel to school by van and spend part of the day with their maternal grandmother.
“At the end of the day, can we provide our children with 100 per cent security? Are we ensuring proper parenting? We are truly worried seeing images of violence against children on social media every day,” Karib said.
Recalling earlier times, he said children often grew up surrounded by relatives in joint families and close-knit residential communities.
“Today, in nuclear families where both parents work, giving children enough time has become extremely difficult,” he said.
Data from human rights organisation Ain o Salish Kendra shows that at least 155 children were killed in Bangladesh in the first eight months of this year. Another 36 children were found dead in rivers or buried underground after being reported missing.
However, such figures cover only cases reported in the media and may not represent the actual scale of the problem. Police Headquarters data show that more than 2,000 children went missing in the first seven months of this year. Their fate remains unknown.
Mohammad Mahbub Quaisar, associate professor of sociology at Dhaka University, said changes in family structures had reduced opportunities for direct interaction between children and parents.
“With the rise of single-family, single-parent and parentless family structures, face-to-face communication between working parents and children has fallen sharply. Even after returning home exhausted, parents often fail to provide children with meaningful companionship because of emotional distance,” he said.
He said parenting practices also needed to change.
“Love for children does not mean only providing money, gifts, chocolates or expensive food. The most important thing is companionship. Human beings naturally seek connection. When children do not receive that connection within their families, emotional struggles often appear through their behaviour and may push them towards risky paths,” Quaisar said.
Research has shown that inadequate parental monitoring, lack of affection and poor discipline can increase the risk of aggressive behaviour among children.
Quaisar warned that children exposed to harsh punishment may learn to see violence as an acceptable solution.
“When emotional distance grows between parents and children, they may lose self-control. The absence of fathers or excessive strictness can create serious risks, especially for boys,” he said.
Similar concerns have emerged in the case of Apratim. Following his death, questions have been raised over his TikTok activities, underage motorcycle riding, social connections and alleged links with juvenile offenders.
Md Tawohidul Haque, a criminologist and associate professor at Dhaka University’s Institute of Social Welfare and Research, said child safety could not be ensured without addressing wider social inequality.
“Because of social deprivation and family neglect, one group of children is becoming involved in crime, while another group is becoming victims of violence and abuse,” he said.
“A large number of street children are being used in crimes, including consuming glue-based intoxicants made from dendrite, transporting and selling drugs and carrying weapons. Children who should have become the future strength of the country are instead facing deprivation from childhood,” he said.
A Unicef research report, Children Living in Street Situations in Bangladesh 2024, states that at least 3.4 million children in Bangladesh are living on the streets without parental care. Many of them are also becoming victims of criminal groups.
Quaisar said weak law enforcement was worsening the situation.
“In developed countries, violence is controlled through effective enforcement of laws. But in Bangladesh, corruption, favouritism, ignorance and political influence often allow criminals to escape punishment, increasing crime risks,” he said.
He said parents must recognise that time and companionship cannot be replaced by money or material benefits.
“At the same time, the state must ensure proper implementation of child protection laws and bring street children under social security coverage,” he said.
