Bangladesh sees rising child abuse within familiar circles: Report
Dhaka, May 30 (IANS) Bangladesh is witnessing an alarming rise in threats to children emerging from within familiar circles such as neighbours, relatives, teachers, and close acquaintances, a report has highlighted.
The issue has drawn renewed scrutiny following two recent brutal incidents, including the rape and murder of an eight-year-old child in Dhaka’s Pallabi area, whose decapitated body was found in a neighbour’s home on May 19.
In another disturbing incident in the Netrokona district, an 11-year-old child was reportedly subjected to a brutal sexual assault, leaving her seven months pregnant.
These are not isolated incidents but part of a broader pattern of violence against women and children, Bangladesh’s leading newspaper ‘The Daily Star’ reported.
A March report by child rights organisation Shishurai Shob, compiled through an audit of published news reports from 2025, discredits the myth of “stranger danger”.
As per the findings, nine out of 10 offenders are familiar faces operating within the victim’s immediate circles.
The data showed that immediate neighbours were responsible for 40.58 per cent of recorded rape cases, with 125 out of 308 incidents linked to them. This was followed by acquaintances at 21.43 per cent, teachers or religious instructors at 14.61 per cent, and close relatives at 13.64 per cent.
In stark contrast, strangers made up just 9.74 per cent of the reported incidents.
Highlighting the concentration of violence against children within intimate spaces, the finding revealed that nearly 66.12 per cent of 124 child murders and 59.09 per cent of 308 sexual abuse cases occurred in the home or family environment.
“Global and local experience shows children are mostly abused by known figures – family, teachers, coaches, or neighbours – who exploit easy access when children are unsupervised. We urgently need research to understand the psychology of predators and unpack the rising societal brutality behind these crimes. In Bangladesh, that analysis is still missing,” The Daily Star quoted Laila Khondkar, convener of Shishurai Shob, as saying.
Additionally, Dhaka-based Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), in its four-month report covering January to April, found that 56 out of 81 rape victims of known age – nearly 70 percent – were children aged between 0 and 12.
During the same period, 63 of the 115 children killed were aged between 0 and 12, highlighting the disproportionate risk faced by the younger age groups.
Shishurai Shob further reported that nearly 10 per cent of child rape cases in 2025 involved victims being killed in an effort to destroy evidence.
Between January and April this year alone, ASK recorded 11 cases of children who were killed after being raped.
Sumaiya Iqbal, assistant professor of criminology at Dhaka University, said that perpetrators often resort to killing victims in an attempt to erase evidence.
“We call this witness elimination. They try to hide the evidence, and in doing so, many victims are killed because they are the primary witness, and the evidence has to be erased,” Daily Star quoted Iqbal as saying.
She connected the disturbing pattern of violence against children to weak deterrence and broader social attitudes.
“If punishment is not consistent and certain, deterrence fails. Alongside impunity, there are deeper social issues — how society views women and children and how sexual objectification becomes normalised. These create an environment where violence can persist,” Iqbal added.
–IANS
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