Silent Screams: The Crisis of Rape in Bangladesh

In the last 9 months, more than 600 incidents of rape have occurred. On average, more than 2 per day. These are documented because they became cases. But in Bangladesh, due to the fear of social taboo, most rape incidents are not reported. Either they keep silent, or there is a family-arranged marriage.

Women's rights are a widely discussed topic of values. Silencing half of the world's population with the weapon of fear is a new era of division in ignorance. We forget the root from which the flower comes before tearing that flower apart, the root from which our own existence stems.

I will not claim that no rapes occurred during the Awami League government. However, you know that in 2002, during the BNP regime, Purnima Rani Das’s father said, "My daughter is young. Come one by one."

I will not say that the Awami League government was able to provide 100% security for women. Still, 2009-2024 was a golden era for women's safety. The Awami League government had the goodwill to develop women as professionals and entrepreneurs. It was the Awami League government that made the punishment for rape the death penalty.

Today, when garment factories are shutting down, when small and medium industries are collapsing, low-income working women are choosing the path of prostitution out of hunger. Conscience is helpless before hunger. I know this does not fall under the definition of rape, but is it not an indirect form of rape?

ASK’s data is even more terrifying. In 6 months of 2025, 2744 incidents were recorded in police records. 87% of the victims were under 18 years old. This year, according to police data, 49 victims were under 6 years old. Even more horrifying, only 3-4% of incidents have turned into cases.

Which group, by what power, is destroying the honor of mothers and sisters like this? “Oh Allah, Khaled, I didn’t know about all this,” say the broker advisors, busy with polythene business.

Scream, girl, let’s see how far your voice reaches. Our only duty is to hold candles in silence. When you grow a little older, they will strip you naked. Sipping cold drinks, people will greedily stare at your bare back. Even then, if they devour you on the open road, the administration will only clap and call you “prostitute.”

Image Source freepik
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