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The incidents of extrajudicial killing increased in the country in the past one year of the Professor Muhammad Yunus led-interim government compared to the previous year of the authoritarian regime.

At least 35 people became victims of extrajudicial killing between August 2024 and July 2025 against 22 in the same period of the previous one year during the Awami league government, show rights body Ain o Salish Kendra data.

The number of deaths in custody saw a slight decrease in the past one year, but the number of the victims is still high.

Human rights activist Nur Khan Liton said, ‘We did not want to see a single incident of extrajudicial killing or custodial death and our expectation was that no such incident would occur during the interim government.’

But unfortunately, a number of incidents has taken place in the past one year, he resented. 

Nur Khan, former executive director of Ain o Salish Kendra, also said that probe should be conducted independently into the incidents to increase the confidence of people in the government, adding that otherwise the anger of people will increase.

Noting that only one or two such incidents saw trial or investigation in the past, he said that almost all incidents were beyond trial or probe.

Inspector general of police Baharul Alam, however, told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· that he did not see any incident of extrajudicial killing in the country.

Ignoring the incidents of extrajudicial killing, the IGP said, ‘We have no data regarding such incidents and it is not occurring.’

According to ASK data, at least 35 people were victims of extrajudicial killing in a year since August 2024.

Of them, no such incident happened in August, five took place in September, three in October,  one in November, three in December, five in January 2025, four in February, one in March,  two in April, one in May, two in June,  and  eight in July.

Besides, at least 69 people died in custody in the same period.

Of them, four people died in August 2024, four in September, three in October, three in November, three in December, six in January 2025, 13 in February, five in March, six in April, seven in May,  five in June, and 10 in July.

However, the number of custodial deaths was 94 during the previous one year of Awami League regime.

The interim government headed by Muhammad Yunus took office on August 8, 2024 after a student-led mass uprising toppled the autocratic regime of prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

Hasina’s 15-year rule was tainted by widespread allegations of extrajudicial killings, deaths in custody, and enforced disappearances.

Rights activists expressed concern over the increasing incidents of extrajudicial killing even in the tenure of Professor Yunus led-administration.

Among the recent incidents, two people were found dead in the custody of the RAB and the Police Bureau of Investigation in Sylhet and Moulvibazar respectively in the past week.

The deceased are Tanvir Chowdhury, 24, of Saradaganj village under Kashimpur upazila in Gazipur and Mokaddus Miah, 50, of Konagaon village of Kamalganj upazila in Moulvibazar district.

Of them, Tanvir was found dead in RAB custody in Sylhet on September 14 and Mokaddus in PBI custody on September 15.

Among publicised cases of recent killings at the hands of police and military forces, Touhidul Islam, 40, a leader of the youth-wing of the BNP, died in Cumilla on February 1 after being taken into custody by a military unit. Family members allege that he was tortured.

According to data of rights body Odhikar, 4,266 people were extrajudicially killed between 2001 and 2025.

Of the victims, 3,164 were killed in ‘crossfire’, 417 tortured to death in custody, 596 shot to death, 54 beaten to death, and 35 were killed due to other reasons.

Police and Detective Branch were responsible for 2,386 incidents of extrajudicial killing while the Rapid Action Battalion was responsible for 1,277 such killings.

Odhikar data show that 29 people were victims of extrajudicial killing in the past one year during the interim government tenure from August 9, 2024 to June, 2025.

Of the victims, 11 were tortured to death in custody, 13 shot to death, and five beaten to death.

Meanwhile, 2,703 people were extrajudicially killed during the 15 years of Awami League regime from January 2009 to June 2024.

Of the victims, 2,062 were killed in crossfire, 182 tortured to death in custody, 421 shot dead, and 31 beaten to death. 

During the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and army-backed caretaker government period from 2001 to January, 2009, 1,534 people were extrajudicially killed.

Rights organisation Odhikar’s director ASM Nasiruddin Elan said that the incidents of enforced disappearance, extrajudicial killing, and custodial deaths were a large-scale phenomenon during the previous government.

Although enforced disappearance incidents did not occur in the past one year, the incidents of death due to torture and extrajudicial killing have still been happing, he said.

Nasiruddin said, ‘Our expectation was a zero tolerance of such incidents during the interim government, but such incident have been occurring,’

Noting that any extrajudicial killing is unacceptable, he also urged the government to conduct fair probes into the incidents and take action against those responsible.

One or two cases saw trial in such cases in the past, he added.

Rights activists said that over the decades, extrajudicial killings in the names of ‘crossfire,’ ‘gunfight,’ and ‘encounter’ continued in the country, with almost every law enforcement agency being implicated.

Alongside those recurring incidents, another consistent factor has been the absence of justice for such killings in the country.

Data show that the police, the RAB, and other government law enforcement agencies have been involved in such incidents.

In addition to the police and the RAB, the agencies accused of carrying out extrajudicial killings include the Detective Branch of police, Coast Guard, Border Guard Bangladesh, Cobra Team, and Ansar.

On December 10, 2021, the United States imposed sanctions on the Rapid Action Battalion and seven of its officials over serious human rights violations.

That year, 188 people were extrajudicially killed in Bangladesh. However, the following year, after the sanctions were imposed, the number dropped significantly to 51.

After the RAB came under US sanctions, such killings decreased. Perhaps seeing the RAB’s situation the police authorities became cautious, said an observer.

In 2011, Amnesty International, the global human rights organisation, published a report titled ‘Crimes Unseen: Extrajudicial Executions in Bangladesh’ said that ‘Such deaths (extrajudicial killings) were usually explained away as accidental, or claimed to have occurred in ‘crossfire’ when RAB officials allegedly opened fire in self-defence.

In many cases, victims were killed after being taken into custody. Nevertheless, despite judicial inquiries by the RAB or the government into such deaths, no judicial action had ever been taken, it said.

Extrajudicial killings, deaths in custody, arbitrary detentions, and enforced disappearances are considered the four gravest forms of human rights violations. Yet, the National Human Rights Commission of Bangladesh has so far investigated only one case of extrajudicial killing.

In February 2014, police from the Keshabpur police station in Jashore conducted an operation during which a man named Rojob Ali was killed in an alleged ‘gunfight’.

After investigation, the NHRC concluded that the so-called gunfight was, in fact, a ‘shooting.’ The commission also pointed out inconsistencies in the police version of the events and stated that the claim of a gunfight was baseless.

The investigation drew significant attention at the time. But it was the first — and the last — such probe by the NHRC, said the right activists.