6.1. Public order, crime and mob violence

 

The fall of the former government in August 2024 was followed by nationwide lawlessness408 and ‘a wave of violent mob attacks’.409 Mobs sought revenge and targeted perceived Awami League supporters, as well as their businesses and homes. Members of the Hindu minority also experienced some of these attacks, as well as police staff, being perceived as having aided the former government in enforcing its repressive agenda.410 Mobs set police stations on fire and beat police officers to death.411 According to TIB, 44 police were killed in ‘various violent incidents’.412 Fearing reprisals, police officers abandoned their posts,413 and went into hiding.414 They left behind a vacuum in law enforcement which opened up for a spike in crime,415 for example 21 people were reportedly lynched in 11 August–19 September 2024.416 In order to maintain law and order, the military was granted magistracy powers,417 which was extended throughout the reference period.418 This means that military officers holding the rank of captain or higher may, inter alia, conduct arrests and place individuals in custody.419

Police officers gradually returned to work, and the public unrest following the fall of the previous government had stabilised by November 2024.420 Sources, however, reported on a remaining disruption in law enforcement in 2025,421 and some elements of society taking advantage of this gap.422 This has led to a general deterioration of law and order in the country compared to previous years.423 There was a spike in violent crime and rape in the months following the power shift,424 with the highest rates of mugging and robbery in six years according to police data, as reported by media sources, as well as a sharp increase in abductions. For example, in January 2025, the police received reports of 294 murders (in contrast to 231 during the same month in 2024), 171 robberies (in contrast to 114 in January 2024) and the number of abductions had reportedly more than doubled425 from 51 in January 2024 to 104 in January 2025.426 TIB reported in November 2024 that 600 people had been killed and 10 000 injured since the fall of the previous government, that incidents of theft, robbery, snatching had increased, and noted that vandalism of houses, vehicles, and businesses, including arson and looting, still occurred. TIB further reported on violent unrest in nine prisons across the country, including escapes, protests, casualties, and violence, as well as agitations at some industries leading to the death and disappearance of workers.427

 

According to the publication The Diplomat, reporting in March 2025, ‘[m]ajor cities and towns have become hotspots for crime, with incidents escalating daily’. The Diplomat also quoted the Inspector General of Prisons Brigadier explaining that the rise in crime inter alia was an effect of the release of 2 200 prisoners during protests in July–August 2024 uprising, with 700 remaining at large as of March 2025, including 70 ‘high-risk criminals’. He further stated that 174 prisoners had been released on bail and were ‘operating without any restrictions’ due to the lack of surveillance and legal oversight, ‘making their presence felt again’.428 Other sources also reported on infamous criminals being released and resuming criminal activities429 and on criminals obtaining weapons through looting during the protests, which has fuelled violent crime.430 The crime rates have reportedly instilled fear among parts of the public,431 and many were reportedly afraid of going outdoors.432

To tackle the crime wave, the interim government launched the joint military and police operation ‘Operation Devil Hunt’ on 8 February 2025.433 Thousands were arrested,434 but crime has reportedly continued ‘unabated’.435 Following a wave of muggings in Dhaka causing ‘panic’,436 and student protests calling for his resignation,437 the Home Affairs Adviser held an emergency conference on 24 February 2025. He addressed the deteriorating law-and-order situation, blamed Awami League supporters for trying to destabilise the country, and pledged to increase police presence.438

Women have been attacked by groups of men in public spaces, and violence against women and girls in general is reportedly on the rise,439 including gang rape.440 Cases drawing national attention441 included the robbery and sexual harassment of women on a moving bus on 24 February 2025.442 A witness told local media that a Hindu woman was raped in front of her family, and many other female passengers were bitten in ‘their sensitive areas’.443 In another case, which sparked nationwide protests,444 an eight-year-old girl was raped by her sister’s in-laws in Magura in early March 2025 and later died in hospital.445 The houses of the accused were set on fire by a mob.446 The police violently dispersed one of the subsequent protests against rape in Dhaka.447 On 16 March 2025, Save the Children and four other NGOs held a joint press conference to address the increased violence against girls and the ‘recent wave of sexual violence, abuse, rape, murder, and attempted murder in the country’.448

Mob violence has continued to break out,449 often targeting individuals suspected of crime.450 People have, however, been targeted by mobs also for various other reasons, such as political retribution, land disputes, and personal conflicts,451 and in some instances for seemingly minor acts, for example a woman was beaten to death for ‘behaving unusually’,452 a taxi driver involved in a traffic incident was beaten to death, as well as a man asking two youths to stop smoking in public.453 In April 2025, a human rights activist explained that the perpetrators of mob beatings are not possible to identify, and are not being caught.454

Local human rights organisations, Manabadhikar Shongskriti Foundation (MSF),455 ASK and Human Rights Support Society (HRSS) recorded increased levels of mob beatings. Both ASK and HRSS documented the highest rates of deaths due to mob beatings in a decade.456 Both MSF and ASK provided monthly data indicating a sharp increase in mob-related deaths in August 2024, and remaining on higher levels throughout the rest of the year (an average of 19 deaths per month). In contrast, during the first seven months of 2024, MSF and ASK recorded an average of 6 and 5 deaths per month, respectively.457 The higher levels of recorded deaths continued in the first months of 2025, with cases peaking anew in March 2025.458 MSF recorded 56 deaths this month and referred to it as an ‘alarming increase’ in mob beatings,459 while ASK recorded 20 deaths.460 The data on the 2024 annual total also differ as HRSS recorded 173 deaths,461 MSF 146,462 and ASK 128.463

Some protests also turned violent in 2025.464 On the night of 5 February 2025, a mob demolished the house of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman465 (independent Bangladesh’s first president and Hasina’s late father).466 As Rahman has been viewed as an ‘independence icon’,467 his house was reportedly an important place for Awami League supporters.468 The event was triggered by an online speech delivered by Hasina on the same day, from exile in India, in which she discredited the protest movement that caused her downfall and called upon her supporters to stand up against the interim government.469 Agitated protesters stormed Rahman’s house, armed with sticks, hammers and other tools, looted the property, set it on fire, and demolished it with a crane and an excavator.470 The house was almost levelled to the ground.471 Netra News reported on the interim government not making any statement or attempt to calm the situation and described the police presence as ‘minimal’ and ‘largely disengaged’.472 The interim government later referred to the event as ‘undesirable’, but also emphasised that it was triggered by Hasina’s speech.473 Hasina’s former residence Sudha Sadan was also set on fire and vandalised on the same night,474 as well as homes of other exiled party leaders.475 Over the following two days, similar attacks continued in various locations.476 According to Prothom Alo, at least 33 properties of Awami League leaders were attacked, as well as eight party offices and 50 murals of the Sheikh family,477 in 19 cities.478

On 7 April 2025, widespread protests against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza turned violent in Cox’s Bazar, Chattogram, Sylhet, Gazipur, Bogura and Cumilla,479 where mobs vandalised brands perceived as associated with Israel, such as Bata, KFC and Pizza Hut.480

 

  • 408

    VOA, Deadly mob violence underscores Bangladesh's security breakdown, 21 September 2024, url; Sharma, P., Rush over trial may be Yunus’s way of keeping Hasina out of Bangladesh, 24 November 2024, url

  • 409

    Daily Star (The), Insecurity grips city as many police stations deserted, 7 August 2024, url

  • 410

    HRW, After the Monsoon Revolution, 27 January 2025, url

  • 411

    UN OHCHR, Human Rights Violations and Abuses Related to the Protests of July and August 2024 in Bangladesh, 12 February 2025, url, paras. 214–216; HRW, After the Monsoon Revolution, 27 January 2025, url; Netra News, An eye-witness account from inside Jatrabari Police Station of the last bloodbath, 15 January 2025, url

  • 412

    TIB, ‘New Bangladesh’, Tracking the First 100 Days after the Fall of the Authoritarian Regime, 18 November 2024, url, p. 8

  • 413

    VOA, Deadly mob violence underscores Bangladesh's security breakdown, 21 September 2024, url

  • 414

    HRW, After the Monsoon Revolution, 27 January 2025, url

  • 415

    HRW, After the Monsoon Revolution, 27 January 2025, url; VOA, Deadly mob violence underscores Bangladesh's security breakdown, 21 September 2024, url; Sharma, P., Rush over trial may be Yunus’s way of keeping Hasina out of Bangladesh, 24 November 2024, url

  • 416

    Daily Star (The), Lynch mobs acting with impunity, 20 September 2024, url

  • 417

    Business Standard (The), Armed forces' magistracy powers extended for third time by 60 more days, 13 March 2025, url

  • 418

    Bdnews24.com, Executive magistracy powers for army officers extended for fourth time, 8 May 2025, url

  • 419

    Daily Star (The), Armed forces: Magistracy power extended again, 14 March 2025, url

  • 420

    International Crisis Group, A New Era in Bangladesh? The First Hundred Days of Reform, 14 November 2024, url

  • 421

    Dhaka Tribune, Our law enforcement is getting better, but it must do more, 23 April 2025, url; Hindu (The), Panic persists across Bangladesh as mob violence continues unabated, 22 March 2025, url; Diplomat (The), Crime Wave Sweeps Post-Hasina Bangladesh, 3 March 2025, url; Al Jazeera, ‘Gotham but no Batman’: Crime grips Bangladesh 6 months after Hasina fled, 4 March 2025, url

  • 422

    Al Jazeera, ‘Gotham but no Batman’: Crime grips Bangladesh 6 months after Hasina fled, 4 March 2025, url; New York Times (The), As Bangladesh Reinvents Itself, Islamist Hard-Liners See an Opening, 3 April 2025, url; Diplomat (The), Crime Wave Sweeps Post-Hasina Bangladesh, 3 March 2025, url

  • 423

    Bonik Barta, Rise in mob violence linked to judicial inaction, 1 April 2025, url; Sharma, P., Rush over trial may be Yunus’s way of keeping Hasina out of Bangladesh, 24 November 2024, url

  • 424

    Al Jazeera, ‘Gotham but no Batman’: Crime grips Bangladesh 6 months after Hasina fled, 4 March 2025, url; Diplomat (The), Crime Wave Sweeps Post-Hasina Bangladesh, 3 March 2025, url

  • 425

    Al Jazeera, ‘Gotham but no Batman’: Crime grips Bangladesh 6 months after Hasina fled, 4 March 2025, url; Daily Star (The), Crime rates spike, 25 February 2025, url

  • 426

    Daily Star (The), Crime rates spike, 25 February 2025, url

  • 427

    TIB, ‘New Bangladesh’, Tracking the First 100 Days after the Fall of the Authoritarian Regime, 18 November 2024, url, p. 8

  • 428

    Diplomat (The), Crime Wave Sweeps Post-Hasina Bangladesh, 3 March 2025, url

  • 429

    TIB, ‘New Bangladesh’, Tracking the First 100 Days after the Fall of the Authoritarian Regime, 18 November 2024, url, p. 8; Prothom Alo, Top terrors Subrata Bain, Picchi Helal, Killer Abbas, others, active after release, 11 October 2024, url

  • 430

    Al Jazeera, ‘Gotham but no Batman’: Crime grips Bangladesh 6 months after Hasina fled, 4 March 2025, url; Daily Star (The), Crime rates spike, 25 February 2025, url

  • 431

    Daily Star (The), Crime rates spike, 25 February 2025, url; Diplomat (The), Crime Wave Sweeps Post-Hasina Bangladesh, 3 March 2025, url; Al Jazeera, ‘Gotham but no Batman’: Crime grips Bangladesh 6 months after Hasina fled, 4 March 2025, url

  • 432

    Al Jazeera, ‘Gotham but no Batman’: Crime grips Bangladesh 6 months after Hasina fled, 4 March 2025, url; Diplomat (The), Crime Wave Sweeps Post-Hasina Bangladesh, 3 March 2025, url

  • 433

    Dhaka Tribune, What is Operation Devil Hunt?, 9 February 2025, url; Al Jazeera, ‘Gotham but no Batman’: Crime grips Bangladesh 6 months after Hasina fled, 4 March 2025, url

  • 434

    Al Jazeera, ‘Gotham but no Batman’: Crime grips Bangladesh 6 months after Hasina fled, 4 March 2025, url; New Age, Extortion unabated before Eid, 27 March 2025, url

  • 435

    Al Jazeera, ‘Gotham but no Batman’: Crime grips Bangladesh 6 months after Hasina fled, 4 March 2025, url; New Age, Extortion unabated before Eid, 27 March 2025, url; Bdnews24.com, Expats returning home targeted in rising night robberies on Dhaka-Chattogram Highway, 7 March 2025, url

  • 436

    Al Jazeera, ‘Gotham but no Batman’: Crime grips Bangladesh 6 months after Hasina fled, 4 March 2025, url; Daily Star (The), Growing unease in the city amid crime spree, 24 February 2025, url

  • 437

    Business Standard (The), Home adviser calls emergency briefing on law-and-order situation at 2:30am, 24 February 2025, url

  • 438

    Prothom Alo, Awami League's backers trying to destabilise the country, 24 February 2025, url

  • 439

    Diplomat (The), Bangladesh Women Rise up Against Increasing Incidents of Rape, 25 March 2025, url; Netra News, Moral policing, vigilante justice, and the persistence of patriarchy, 30 September 2024, url; Daily Star (The), Harassment of women in public spaces on rise, 8 October 2024, url;

  • 440

    Prothom Alo, Dhaka records 17 gang rape, 216 rape cases in just 7 months, 8 April 2025, url; Prothom Alo, Number of rapes in March over double that in February, 31 March 2025, url

  • 441

    Daily Star (The), Crime rates spike, 25 February 2025, url

  • 442

    Dhaka Tribune, Case filed over bus robbery on Dhaka-Tangail highway, 21 February 2025, url; Business Standard (The), Police scramble after victim recounts robbery, 'rape' on bus in Tangail, 24 February 2025, url

  • 443

    Business Standard (The), Police scramble after victim recounts robbery, 'rape' on bus in Tangail, 24 February 2025, url

  • 444

    Hindu (The), Panic persists across Bangladesh as mob violence continues unabated, 22 March 2024, url; Daily Star (The), Mob violence: Causes, consequences, and pathways to justice, 11 April 2025, url

  • 445

    Bonik Barta, Court begins proceedings, testimonies on Apr 27, 24 April 2025, url

  • 446

    Hindu (The), Panic persists across Bangladesh as mob violence continues unabated, 22 March 2024, url; Daily Star (The), Mob violence: Causes, consequences, and pathways to justice, 11 April 2025, url

  • 447

    Prothom Alo, Police charge batons on protesters during anti-rape march, 11 March 2025, url

  • 448

    Save the Children, NGOs demand justice over incidents of child rape, abuse, and murder, 16 March 2025, url

  • 449

    International Crisis Group, A New Era in Bangladesh? The First Hundred Days of Reform, 14 November 2024, url; Daily Star (The), Why can’t mob violence be contained, 6 April 2025, url

  • 450

    Bonik Barta, Rise in mob violence linked to judicial inaction, 1 April 2025, url; Daily Star (The), Mob justice is not justice, 9 March 2025, url

  • 451

    Bonik Barta, Rise in mob violence linked to judicial inaction, 1 April 2025, url

  • 452

    Daily Star (The), Mob justice is not justice, 9 March 2025, url

  • 453

    Daily Star (The), Why can’t mob violence be contained, 6 April 2025, url

  • 454

    Bonik Barta, Rise in mob violence linked to judicial inaction, 1 April 2025, url

  • 455

    MSF, Human Rights Situation Monitoring Report March 2025, 31 March 2025, url, p. 9

  • 456

    Daily Star (The), Mob violence: Causes, consequences, and pathways to justice, 11 April 2025, url; ASK, Mob Beating Jan-Dec 2024, 31 December 2024, url; ASK, Mob Beating (Jan-Dec 2023), 8 January 2024, url; ASK, Mob Beating (Jan-Dec 2022), 3 January 2023, url; ASK, Mob Beating (Jan-Dec 2021), 13 January 2022, url; ASK, Mob Beating (Jan-Dec 2020), 31 December 2020, url; ASK, Mob Beating (Jan–Dec 2019), 6 January 2020, url; ASK, Mob Beating : January-December 2018, 14 January 2019, url; ASK, Mob Beating : January-December 2017, 17 January 2018, url; ASK, Mob Beating : January-December 2016, 8 January 2017, url; ASK, Mob Beating : January-December 2015, 7 January 2016, url

  • 457

    ASK, Statistics Monthly 2024, n.d., url; MSF, Human Rights Situation in Bangladesh 2024, 31 December 2024, url, p. 5

  • 458

    MSF, Human Rights Situation Monitoring Report January 2025, 31 January 2025, url, p. 1; MSF, Human Rights Situation Monitoring Report March 2025, 31 March 2025, url p. 2; ASK, Statistics Monthly 2025, n.d., url

  • 459

    MSF, Human Rights Situation Monitoring Report March 2025, 31 March 2025, url, pp. 2, 9

  • 460

    ASK, Statistics Monthly 2025, n.d., url

  • 461

    HRSS, Annual Human Rights Situation In Bangladesh 2024, 31 December 2024, url

  • 462

    MSF, Human Rights Situation in Bangladesh 2024, 31 December 2024, url, p. 5

  • 463

    ASK, Mob Beating Jan-Dec 2024, 31 December 2024, url

  • 464

    Bdnews24.com, Gaza protests: Demonstrators attack Bata, KFC outlets in 6 districts in Bangladesh, 7 April 2025, url; Al Jazeera, Bangladesh protesters torch family home of ousted PM Sheikh Hasina, 6 February 2025, url

  • 465

    Al Jazeera, Bangladesh protesters torch family home of ousted PM Sheikh Hasina, 6 February 2025, url

  • 466

    Benar News, Bangladesh rewrites history, leaves millions of schoolchildren without textbooks, 17 January 2025, url; Daily Star (The), New textbooks will say Ziaur Rahman declared independence, 1 January 2025, url

  • 467

    Al Jazeera, Why a Bangladesh mob burned down home of independence icon Mujibur Rahman, 7 February 2025, url

  • 468

    Netra News, Government looks the other way as mob tears down Number 32, 6 February 2025, url

  • 469

    Al Jazeera, Why a Bangladesh mob burned down home of independence icon Mujibur Rahman, 7 February 2025, url

  • 470

    Al Jazeera, Why a Bangladesh mob burned down home of independence icon Mujibur Rahman, 7 February 2025, url; Netra News, Government looks the other way as mob tears down Number 32, 6 February 2025, url

  • 471

    Al Jazeera, Bangladesh protesters torch family home of ousted PM Sheikh Hasina, 6 February 2025, url

  • 472

    Netra News, Government looks the other way as mob tears down Number 32, 6 February 2025, url

  • 473

    Netra News, Government looks the other way as mob tears down Number 32, 6 February 2025, url; Daily Star (The), Will firmly resist arson, vandalism attempts: govt, 7 February 2025, url

  • 474

    Netra News, Government looks the other way as mob tears down Number 32, 6 February 2025, url; Prothom Alo, Dhanmondi 32: People taking away books, iron rods, anything available, 6 February 2025, url

  • 475

    Al Jazeera, Why a Bangladesh mob burned down home of independence icon Mujibur Rahman, 7 February 2025, url

  • 476

    Prothom Alo, BNP tells government to get control of the situation, 7 February 2025, url; Dhaka Tribune, Sheikh Mujib's mural demolished in Sylhet, 6 February 2025, url; Daily Star (The), Protesters demolish Mujib’s murals, AL offices in different districts, 6 February 2025, url

  • 477

    Prothom Alo, BNP tells government to get control of the situation, 7 February 2025, url

  • 478

    Al Jazeera, Why a Bangladesh mob burned down home of independence icon Mujibur Rahman, 7 February 2025, url

  • 479

    Bdnews24.com, Gaza protests: Demonstrators attack Bata, KFC outlets in 6 districts, 7 April 2025, url

  • 480

     Firstpost, Why are Bangladeshis attacking Bata, Pizza Hut, KFC outlets?, 9 April 2025, url; NDTV [YouTube], 

    Bangladesh Protest News, 8 April 2025, url