Victims of enforced disappearance and human rights activists at a human chain in Rajshahi on Thursday called on the interim government to take urgent steps to end custodial torture, impunity and systemic repression in the country.
Human rights group Odhikar organised the human chain at Saheb Bazar Zero Point area in Rajshahi city, marking the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.
Addressing the programme, Moin Uddin, Rajshahi district unit coordinator of Odhikar, said that the culture of impunity in Bangladesh had left numerous unresolved cases of human rights violations unaddressed.
鈥榃e are witnessing people subjected to systemic repression as a form of inhumane state retaliation,鈥� he said.
Referring to the past year鈥檚 July mass uprising, he said that many lives were lost and thousands of students and citizens maimed under the brutal crackdown by the then fascist regime.
Al-Amin Hossain, a victim of enforced disappearance who returned alive from the Aynaghar, read out the statement of Odhikar at the programme.
鈥楽ince Bangladesh gained independence, torture has occurred under every government. However, it took an extreme form during the tenure of Sheikh Hasina's government,鈥� said Al-Amin, adding that torture through disappearances, torture in prisons occurred.
During this time, torture, disappearances and extrajudicial killings took place using the RAB, police and various intelligence agencies, he mentioned.
Al Amin said that 182 people died due to torture during the tenure of Sheikh Hasina鈥檚 government from January 2009 to August 5, 2024, while 10 people died due to torture during the tenure of the interim government from August 9, 2024 to June 20, 2025.
The speakers urged the government to take immediate and tangible steps to bring an end to the existing culture of impunity and impose a ban on the import of torture-related equipment.
They also called for an end to the current practice of political interference in the judiciary and implementation of the 2003 Supreme Court directives aimed at preventing arbitrary arrests and torture by law enforcement agencies.
