Awami League Flags Alarming Custodial Death Trend In Bangladesh

Bangladesh’s Awami League on Wednesday raised serious concerns over what it described as a sharp increase in deaths occurring in jail and police custody under the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government.

The party alleged that detention has become a source of fear rather than protection, marking a troubling erosion of state responsibility.

The Awami League alleged that authorities arrest individuals alive and return them dead, while official explanations provide little clarity and almost no accountability.

The party said the interim period, projected as reform-oriented, has instead exposed a dangerous collapse in the state’s duty to protect detainees.

According to the party, this is not an abstract human rights issue but a recurring pattern, with party activists and leaders frequently appearing among the victims.

Many detainees, it is alleged, were held in politically sensitive cases, detained for prolonged periods, and denied adequate medical treatment.

Political Responsibility Under Scrutiny

The Awami League accused the interim government of routinely attributing custodial deaths to illness or suicide, reinforcing the perception that responsibility ends once a person enters custody.

It argued that political accountability can no longer be avoided.

The party said the Yunus-led administration came to power promising reform, restraint, and a departure from past abuses, but has failed to deliver on those assurances.

Instead, it alleged that the government reassured the public while allowing custodial violence to persist under a different guise.

In a strongly worded statement, the Awami League accused the interim government of choosing silence over accountability and denial over responsibility.

It claimed that the lack of intervention, investigations, or institutional reform has created an environment where abuse continues unchecked, effectively normalising custodial deaths.

The party said that authorities now treat what once provoked outrage as routine, adding that arrest in today’s Bangladesh no longer guarantees the protection of law but exposes detainees to a system that has abandoned its duty to keep them alive.

Data Cited by the Party

Citing figures from the past year, the Awami League claimed that at least 119 people died in prison custody, while 21 others died in police custody under the Yunus regime.

During the same period, the party alleged that security forces killed 26 people in extrajudicial actions, while incidents of political violence claimed 106 lives.

The Awami League stressed that authorities cannot dismiss these deaths as isolated incidents or mere administrative lapses.

Instead, it argued, they reflect deliberate political choices, asserting that continued inaction has made the interim government complicit through neglect.

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