Sanjoy Kumar Barua
On a day meant to honor the strength, resilience, and achievements of women worldwide, Bangladesh is drowning in an epidemic of sexual brutality, impunity, and institutional betrayal.
In mere days, a harrowing storm of sexual violence has swept across the nation—violating the sanctity of schoolyards, desecrating the quiet of remote villages, and shattering the illusion of safety in bustling tourist enclaves.
The scourge preys on the defenseless, the voiceless, and those who once believed they were beyond harm.
Yet, the wheels of justice remain rusted in apathy, their inertia emboldening predators who roam with impunity, as if the law itself were a ghost—silent, invisible, and utterly powerless.
Sitakunda: A Young Woman’s Day Turns to a Nightmare
At Guliakhali Sea Beach, a college student seeking a peaceful afternoon with her partner found herself trapped in a scene from hell.
Four men emerged like phantoms, beating her companion into submission before dragging her into a forest. There, she pleaded. She begged. But her cries vanished into the void as they tore away her dignity, one after another.
Rescued by locals, she survived. But what of justice? The rapists disappeared into the shadows—just as they always do.
Munshiganj: The Sickening Exploitation of Innocence
In a crime so vile it defies comprehension, a 60-year-old man lured two children—aged just 8 and 10—with balloons and food before defiling them. The children, unaware of the darkness lurking behind a friendly face, followed him willingly.
When the truth surfaced, the families hesitated—not out of ignorance, but out of fear. Fear of the stigma. Fear of a broken system. Fear that their daughters would be buried under shame while the rapist walked free.
It took the weight of an entire community to force accountability. And even then, will his punishment match his crime?
Faridpur: A Bicycle Ride to Hell
She was four years old. A child still stumbling through the first chapters of life. When a 14-year-old boy promised her a bicycle ride, she smiled—unaware she was pedaling toward her own destruction.
Now, she lies in a hospital, her body bearing the unthinkable violence inflicted by someone barely out of childhood himself.
Thakurgaon: A Teacher’s Betrayal
Schools are meant to be sanctuaries of learning, not hunting grounds for predators cloaked in authority. Yet in Thakurgaon, a primary school teacher raped his fifth-grade student within the very walls meant to protect her.
When guardians become demons, where can the vulnerable seek shelter?
Cumilla: A Speech-Impaired Girl’s Voiceless Agony
Two elderly men—predators who should have spent their final years seeking redemption—instead used food to lure a speech-impaired teenager into an unfinished building.
One of them, Jahangir Alam, has been arrested, but his accomplice? He has melted into the crowd, another ghost in a country that breeds them.
Magura: A Child on the Brink of Death
Some crimes transcend horror. Some wounds are so deep they challenge the very existence of mercy.
In Magura, a young girl—her body battered, her throat crushed—now clings to life in a hospital bed, hooked to machines as doctors whisper that hope is running out.
Her suffering is not just hers—it belongs to a nation that has failed to protect her. It belongs to every woman who walks home clutching her keys between her fingers. It belongs to every child who has been taught to fear the very world that was supposed to nurture them.
According to Human Rights Culture Foundation (MSF), Bangladesh recorded 42 rapes in January 2025—9 of which involved children. February saw 57 cases, 16 of them children.
These numbers are not just statistics—they are broken lives, stolen childhoods, and unhealed wounds. They represent a nation where justice is slow, silence is forced, and predators remain untouched.
On this Women’s Day in Bangladesh, grand promises of empowerment and protection will echo far and wide. Yet, beyond the rhetoric, girls will be violated, women will be silenced, and children will be sacrificed on the altar of impunity.
What use are campaigns, hashtags, and empty pledges when a four-year-old girl lies broken in a hospital bed, when a speech-impaired teenager sobs in silence, when a college student shivers in fear knowing her rapists still walk free?
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