Scholars, rights advocates and survivors at a discussion on Sunday stated that the systematic use of ‘knee-capping’ during the Awami League’s decade-long autocratic rule aimed at silencing political dissent and intimidating opposition activists.
Rights-based think tank Sapran arranged the panel discussion titled ‘Kneecapping democracy: silencing dissent by crippling bodies in Bangladesh’ at Bishwa Sahitya Kendra in Dhaka city.
Addressing the discussion they said that the practice—in which security personnel allegedly shot at or savagely beat at the legs of protesters and opposition supporters—had left a long-term impact on political life by reinforcing fear and weakening prospects for accountability.
Survivors at the event described chronic pain, disability, loss of income and persistent psychological trauma.
Gono Bishwabidyalay lecturer Lemon Hossain said that he was a victim of knee-capping and told the discussion that the method was employed to ‘incapacitate bodies and stifle political mobilisation’.
Lemon Hossain was shot at by a Rapid Action Battalion member in 2011 near his Jhalokathi home while he was 16 years old. The legal battle regarding the incident is still going on with Lemon filing a complaint with the International Crimes Tribunal end of 2024.
Another victim of kneecapping Samsul Alam Bulbul described how he was leading a miserable life after he had been shot at the legs after which he faced repeated denial of treatment and also multiple ‘false cases’.
Dhaka University law professor Muhammad Mahbubur Rahman said that the tactic served both as a physical punishment and a symbolic tool of control intended to shape public memory and deter dissent.
Human rights defenders at the programme said that weakened media and compromised judiciary during the period allowed such abuses to remain largely obscured.
‘This was not a set of isolated incidents—it became a method of governance’, said Faruk Wasif, director general of the Press Institute of Bangladesh.
Speakers said that Bangladesh now stood at a critical juncture to be reckoned with the legacy of rights violations as the demand for justice grew sharper and louder.
They urged policymakers to acknowledge the scale of past abuses, preserve survivor testimonies and document the tactics used to suppress political opposition to support future accountability efforts.
