DHAKA: Bangladesh’s leading women’s rights group reported on Wednesday a dramatic surge in rape cases it blamed on worsening security, with police calling the general law and order situation a “crisis.”
Fauzia Muslim, president of Bangladesh Mohila Parishad group, said the number of sexual assaults in the first six months of 2025 nearly equalled the total for all of last year — a period that also included the turmoil during mass protests that toppled the government in August 2024.
“Violence against women increases when there is a deterioration of law and order,” Muslim told AFP, warning of “a deliberate attempt in society to create an ‘anti-women’ atmosphere.”
The rights group based its findings on sexual assault cases published in national newspapers.
According to those reports, 364 rapes were recorded in 2024, compared with 354 cases in the first half of 2025. The group said that the real figures were likely much higher.
