Torture of family members of victims in Bangladesh

Abstract

T he July Revolution (2024) in Bangladesh ousted Sheikh Hasina after her 15 years of torture, political oppression, embezzlement, and human rights violations using the state machinery (United Nations, 2025; European Union Agency for Asylum, 2025; Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances, 2025). After escaping on 05 August 2024, all her misdeeds were exposed to the public, which she did to stay in power. The people of Bangladesh had to endure various forms of torture for speaking out against her misdeeds. It is not only the opposition leaders and activists who were tortured by his forces, but also the family members of the victims have been tortured in various ways. For instance, a law enforcement agency arrested and detained the wife and 11-month-old child in Police custody for 19 hours in the absence of a victim (Rahman, 2015). Pregnant ladies, couples with children, and women with children were detained and interrogated (Daily Ittefaq, 2024; Islam, 2025). Even family members were taken away by law enforcement officers and later denied. Here, we report four incidents of torture on family members in addition to the victim to document how the victim’s family was tortured. T his study utilised a qualitative case analysis method to evaluate events of torture. Data were collected from various secondary sources, including reports from human rights organisations, televised news, newspaper reports, and other media sources. All the cases were selected for in-depth analysis based on the severity and diversity of torture methods reported. We collected data from existing sources; therefore, we did not seek formal ethical approval from an institutional review board.