Muradnagar, Cumilla – June 2025
On the night of June 26, 2025, a Hindu woman in Muradnagar, Cumilla District, endured one of the most brutal forms of violence imaginable: her home was forcibly invaded, her dignity shattered, and her trauma recorded and circulated like a war trophy. She was gang raped by multiple assailants, her cries echoing through the silence of a country that has, for decades, looked away from the suffering of its most vulnerable.
The survivor courageously reported the incident to Muradnagar Police either on June 27 or June 29, though this remains unclear. The typed complaint that served as the basis for the FIR is dated June 29. HRCBM is working to ascertain the actual date by speaking directly with the survivor. What is evident, however, is a lack of procedural urgency. Even the media appears to be attempting to color or distort the timeline, as seen in interview footage received by HRCBM. Yet instead of immediate protection, justice, or care, she was met with indifference.
Law enforcement officials failed to arrange a mandatory medical examination, delayed filing her First Information Report (FIR) until June 29, and later deflected blame by claiming it was “up to her” to pursue medical treatment. This not only violated established police procedure and Bangladesh’s own legal codes, but also the moral code of any functioning democracy.
HRCBM’s investigative team, led by Advocate Lucky Bacchar and including Asish Kumar Anjon and Ripon Chandra Das, arrived on site and met with the Officer-in-Charge at Muradnagar Police Station. Despite public pressure and media manipulation by Islamist groups portraying the crime as consensual, one primary perpetrator and several accomplices involved in the distribution of the assault video were eventually arrested. Others remain at large.
Arrest and Law Enforcement Response
HRCBM’s team also met with the father of the victim and learned that a local union member, identified only as Karim (last name unknown), had allegedly pressured the family not to go to the police and instead pursue so-called village justice. This kind of intimidation reflects the broader climate of coercion that discourages victims from seeking legal recourse.
In addition, HRCBM received video statements from members of the local Muslim community, some of whom are attempting to downplay the incident and protect the primary accused, Fajar Ali, and his gang—despite the brutal nature of the assault. Such actions by community actors further obstruct justice and enable the normalization of gender-based violence against minorities.
In addition to engaging with Muradnagar police, HRCBM also met with the Superintendent of Police (SP) in Cumilla. During the meeting, HRCBM submitted a formal appeal requesting urgent cooperation in investigating the growing pattern of violence against minority women and girls, including the Muradnagar incident and other atrocities targeting the Hindu community across the district. A copy of the appeal will be included with this article as part of our documentation.
As of the time HRCBM’s investigative team was on site, Muradnagar Police had arrested the main accused and four of his accomplices, including individuals involved in distributing the assault footage. However, critical delays in filing the FIR, failure to conduct a medical examination within the first 24 hours, and a dismissive attitude toward the survivor’s rights point to systemic negligence. Law enforcement’s initial response — suggesting the survivor should arrange her own medical exam — represents a gross violation of procedural and ethical standards.
Once HRCBM can locate and directly communicate with the survivor, the organization may arrnge for her medical examination if it has not already been conducted, and will provide legal representation to ensure her protection and access to justice. All procedural failures are being documented for inclusion in its legal filings.
This incident is not isolated. It is a horrific example of an entrenched pattern in Bangladesh where minority women are routinely targeted, raped, abducted, forcibly converted, and shamed into silence. Since April 2025 alone, HRCBM has documented 13 gang rape cases in Cumilla District involving Hindu women. Across the country, reports of headless bodies, mass abductions, and forced conversions of young minority girls are rising at an alarming pace. Families now contact HRCBM regularly, pleading to rescue their daughters.
A Legacy of Violence
The targeting of minority women in Bangladesh did not begin in Muradnagar, nor is it new. According to several scholarly works, between 200,000 and 400,000 women and girls were brutally raped and exploited as sex slaves by the Pakistan Army and their Islamist collaborators during the 1971 Liberation War. Following independence, an estimated 30,000 women committed suicide almost immediately. Roughly 150,000 underwent forced abortions, and many survivors were ostracized by their own communities. To this day, there is no comprehensive account of what happened to the rest.
Many scholars assert that the majority of these women and girls were from minority communities — primarily Hindus. While the newly formed state of Bangladesh attempted to integrate these survivors back into society, it failed to initiate punitive actions against those who had allied with the Pakistan Army and actively instigated brutalities against these women, as well as broader atrocities against the minority population.
Since independence, in nearly every political turmoil — whether in the 1980s, 1990s, or 2000s — minority women and girls have been systematically targeted. They are prowled upon during times of unrest, used as instruments of terror and control. Successive governments have fostered a culture of impunity when it comes to atrocities and sexual violence against minorities. Law enforcement is routinely non-cooperative, and justice is elusive. Even the mainstream media in Bangladesh has remained largely silent, further reinforcing a climate where such violence goes unchallenged.
This pattern of impunity has never truly ended. Minority women are not only attacked for their gender but for their very identity. To this day, perpetrators act with confidence that police will delay, evidence will be ignored, and society will look away. During the 1971 Liberation War, an estimated 200,000 to 400,000 women were raped — a disproportionate number of them Hindu. Islamist militias viewed minority women as both sexual objects and political trophies, enacting a genocidal campaign of erasure.
This pattern never truly ended. In every political upheaval since independence, minority women have faced the brunt of backlash. They are not only attacked for their gender but for their very identity. To this day, perpetrators act with confidence that police will delay, evidence will be ignored, and society will look away.
Institutional Failure and UN Inaction
In October 2024, HRCBM met virtually with a member of the UN fact-finding team that visited Bangladesh. During the meeting, HRCBM was informed that the team’s scope was strictly limited to cases occurring between July 20 and August 15. Despite HRCBM’s efforts to bring forward a wider pattern of abuse, including a list of 41 minority women and girls who were victims of sexual violence, the team refused to consider any evidence beyond their defined timeframe.
In one especially tragic case, a 13-year-old Hindu girl was abducted in September 2024. HRCBM sought the UN team’s help in pressuring the government to act.
However, the request was met with silence. HRCBM also shared the copy of the communication to the fact-finding team and sought their help. The communication HRCBM earlier submitted formally to the UN under both the CEDAW Optional Protocol and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) Optional Protocols was rejected on the basis that Bangladesh is not a signatory to either Optional Protocol, effectively blocking any formal UN intervention.
Despite being referred to a designated gender-based violence contact, HRCBM received no follow-up. This failure to act not only abandoned vulnerable victims but signaled to perpetrators that international oversight would not be forthcoming.
This narrow interpretation of mandate and lack of follow-through has left survivors without international allies. It has enabled a culture where law enforcement agencies act with impunity — refusing even basic legal responsibilities such as arranging medical exams, filing timely FIRs, or protecting survivors from harassment.
Meanwhile, the mainstream Bangladeshi media has remained largely silent. The Muradnagar case, like many others, would likely have been buried under layers of political denial and communal pressure—were it not for the viral circulation of the assault video, which forced public and institutional attention.
A Call for Justice
HRCBM is now preparing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) demanding a judicial inquiry into the condition of minority women and girls in Bangladesh. We call upon the international community — UN agencies, human rights defenders, and global civil society — to support our efforts, pressure the Bangladeshi government, and push for accountability mechanisms.
We also call on the Government of Bangladesh to:
Immediately launch an independent inquiry into the Muradnagar case
Arrest all perpetrators and ensure a fair, speedy trial
Enforce police accountability for procedural failure
Establish protective and rehabilitative services for survivors
The time for statements has passed. What is required now is courage — to speak, to act, and to demand justice where silence has prevailed for far too long.
Because if we remain silent, we become complicit.
Contact: info@hrcbm.org www.hrcbm.org
