A citizen regretted her vote. Why did she end up in jail?
The Bhaluka businesswoman was detained amid tension following her Facebook remarks, while questions remain over the alleged thefts that prompted her anger
Rights & social justice
Rights, gender, labour, children, minorities and access to justice.
28 bylined pieces
Who protects families when they report child sexual abuse?
A Tongi father says he has received death threats after reporting his seven-year-old daughter's alleged abuse at a madrasa. The police response could matter far beyond this one case
Bewildering convictions
The jailing of 85 people following a raid on a senior police officer’s house in Purbachal last week has raised questions over the evidence behind their convictions and the circulation of their photographs and videos.
Durga Puja: The joy of coming home
Sharadiya Durga Puja is here again. Across Dhaka, temples and puja mandaps are dressed in festive colours, ready to welcome devotees. Families gather, friends reunite, and children accompany their parents to see the goddess. Devotees bow before the idols, offer anjali and receive prasad.
Seven Years Later, I Return to What I Wrote the Day Abrar Fahad Was Killed
Seven years after Abrar Fahad’s killing, I revisit what I wrote that day about campus violence, political labels and the silence that allowed it to continue.
What else must women do?
A woman’s profession should not depend on a politician’s religious expectations
Half the children can’t read, comprehend
As the government aims to raise the country’s literacy rate to between 86 and 90 percent by 2030, nearly half of children aged seven to 14 still fail to read and understand a simple story.
When will these painful stories end?
Measles continues to ravage our children and with them their faimilies
Why must workers wait for Eid dues every year?
When planning fails selectively, and always in the same direction, always at the worker's expense -- it is no longer a planning problem.
Before we called her a victim, she was a child
Ramisa’s murder must not become another passing outrage
Safety, freedom and job on young voters’ mind
Young voters want citizens’ safety and security at core of their election manifestos, with special focus on safeguarding freedom of expression and protecting rights of minority communities
Only political will can break cycle of violence
Years of political hostility and the misuse of state agencies have kept political violence alive in Bangladesh, and only a newly elected government with the goodwill to act can break this cycle, said human rights activist Nur Khan Liton.
Put rights issues at the heart of polls pledges
Bangladesh now needs a government prepared to confront long-standing issues such as custodial torture, extrajudicial killings, and border violence instead of repeating earlier patterns of inaction, rights activist ASM Nasiruddin Elan has said.
There's no neutral observer in digital violence
Silence tells women that even when men see the harm, they will not intervene.
Mob violence now alarmingly routine
Rights groups say the state's failure to act swiftly and decisively has to some extent emboldened mobs and contributed to a climate where vigilante justice is becoming commonplace.
Are we hurtling towards mob journalism?
It was supposed to be a routine traffic stop. Two women on a motorbike were stopped in Hatirjheel for not wearing helmets
A recurring script is enough to prove the pattern
In Bangladesh, one does not need to teach a generation, invent a cure for a disease, feed the hungry, or fight for justice to be honoured. In this country, respect comes cheaper
Cowardice, plain and simple
This was targeted violence, against women, by men who knew exactly what they were doing
July uprising: AL govt, oppositions used children as pawns
Both the previous government (Awami League) and opposition groups recruited, paid, and used children in violence during the July uprising, a United Nations Fact-Finding Mission has reported.
Are they even trying? Or have they decided not to act?
A month on, there is still no justice for violence against adivasis
July Uprising: State forces, AL perpetrated gender-based violence
The United Nations fact-finding report has exposed disturbing accounts of gender-based violence during the July uprising last year, with women protesters facing physical assaults, rape threats, and arbitrary detention.
Why not banish Aynaghars?
Enforced disappearances have long been a dark stain on Bangladesh's history, with Aynaghar standing as one of the most harrowing symbols of this systemic abuse.
Will the mob decide Bangladesh’s future?
In Joypurhat, a group of people stormed a football field and forced a women's match to be cancelled
Women protected by women
Women compartments in metro trains are safeguarded by female police officials to ensure a safe and comfortable commute in an otherwise unsafe city for women.
A journey through Bangladesh’s struggle for independence
The word “Swadhinata” evokes a powerful image of Bangladesh’s journey to independence, and the Swadhinata Museum, located at Dhaka’s Suhrawardy Udyan is a testament to that journey, embodying the spirit of freedom.
‘I’ll pass this story to my children’
As the metro-rail train started its maiden journey yesterday afternoon, Swadhin Ahmed, a young man, had a wide smile on his face. In fact, it was a day of pride for Swadhin, who had been working for the metro-rail project for three years.
A good initiative, but still a long way to go
The instalment of CCTV cameras in city buses by the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs has generated a positive response among female commuters as well as bus staffers, as they believe the initiative has brought a change in the behavioural pattern of the overall commuters.
Series set for Bangladesh women’s teams
While the Bangladesh men’s team are currently participating in cricket’s biggest event -- the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup -- in England, Bangladesh’s women cricketers have been toiling hard at the Shaheed Kamaruzzaman Divisional Stadium in Rajshahi ahead of their tour of South Africa