A growing body of human rights data now indicates that the cycle of extrajudicial killings, custodial torture, and state brutality in Bangladesh has not meaningfully declined under the interim administration of Muhammad Yunus. For many citizens who hoped that the post-Hasina period would bring accountability and reform, the current reality appears disturbingly similar to the past.
Public anger had already been intensifying for years under Sheikh Hasina’s rule, fuelled by allegations of authoritarianism, forced disappearances, and rampant abuses by security forces. By mid-2024, student-led protests swept across the country, culminating in Hasina’s dramatic departure in August. The expectation was that the caretaker regime would put an end to the old patterns of state violence. However, rights groups say the brutality continues almost unchanged.
Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), one of Bangladesh’s prominent human rights organisations, compiled data showing that between January and November 2025, at least 37 people were victims of extrajudicial killings or custodial deaths. Fourteen were killed in so-called shootouts before arrest, while eleven died after torture in custody. In addition, ASK recorded 95 deaths inside prisons this year, including 64 undertrials — a figure that underlines the systemic nature of the crisis.
Rights activist Nur Khan Liton described the situation as an “alarming continuation” of practices that were entrenched under previous administrations. He said the same officials implicated in past abuses still occupy positions of authority, and accountability remains virtually nonexistent. With no visible shift in institutional behaviour, he warned, the longstanding pattern of custodial deaths is likely to persist unless a future elected government acts decisively.
The Hasina era left behind a grim legacy of secret detention centres and enforced disappearances. Facilities like Aynaghar — the “House of Mirrors” inside Dhaka Cantonment — were notorious for holding political critics in prolonged, isolated confinement, sometimes for as long as eight years. Around 100 people picked up during Hasina’s tenure are still missing. Families continue to wait for answers, many unsure whether their loved ones are dead or alive.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), long the primary target of state repression, has reiterated that its members suffered the highest number of casualties and disappearances. Acting BNP chairman Tarique Rahman said that his party’s workers and supporters formed the largest share of those “wounded, missing or falsely charged” over the last decade.
In response, ex-Awami League leaders — now in exile — have pushed back, attempting to trace the origins of extrajudicial killings to the formation of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) in 2004 under BNP rule. They cite Human Rights Watch data linking more than 350 deaths since then to RAB operations. This exchange reflects the deep political blame game that continues to overshadow any genuine accountability process.
Beyond ASK, other organisations have corroborated the continuation of abuses. Dhaka-based Odhikar reported at least 40 extrajudicial killings and 153 lynchings in the post-Hasina period up to October 2025. It also documented 281 deaths linked to political violence during the same timeframe. The figures were alarming enough for six major international human rights groups to write to Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus in October, urging stronger action to curb abuses and enforce the rule of law.
Although Yunus established a commission in August 2024 to investigate disappearances and killings from Hasina’s tenure, critics say the caretaker government has failed to bring meaningful restraint to the security forces now under its command. The expectation that the post-Hasina transition would mark a break from decades of impunity has, so far, not been met.
For Bangladesh, human rights defenders warn, the pattern looks painfully familiar: whether under Hasina or under Yunus, the machinery of state violence remains largely unchanged.
