More than a million cases of violence against women and children have been reported in Bangladesh over the past five years, according to police data.

While police say the rate of abuse has gradually declined, human rights organizations say the figures do not reflect the real situation.

The crime statistics, published on the police headquarters website, were recently released by Police Commissioner Baharul Alam after a gap of over five years.

From 2019 to December 2023, 107,124 cases of abuse were reported nationwide.

Statistics indicate that on average 59 women and children are victims of abuse every day.

Data shows a slight increase in abuse cases during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, with 22,517 cases reported, compared to 21,764 in 2019.

Since then, the number of cases has steadily declined to 22,136 in 2021, 21,766 in 2022 and 18,941 in 2023, a reduction of more than 2,500 cases over a five-year period.

Among the divisions, Dhaka recorded the highest number of cases at 17,159, while Sylhet reported the lowest at 4,571.

Abuse cases were most prevalent in metropolitan areas, with the Dhaka metropolitan region reporting 10,430 cases over the five years, or an average of six incidents per day. Conversely, the Barishal metropolitan region reported the fewest cases (813).

However, human rights activists say these figures do not give an accurate representation of violence against women and children in Bangladesh.

Lawyer Salma Ali, executive director of the Bangladesh Women Lawyers Association, highlighted the problem of under-reporting.

“For the past five years, the country has been under one-party rule. During this period, women and children who were victims of abuse by members of the ruling party were afraid to report it to the police. the length of the legal process deters many people from filing complaints against the police,” she said.

Salma further noted that many victims opt for local mediation instead of seeking justice through the court system.

“We often see defendants released on bail, while victims are forced to attend court hearings for months,” she added.

Supporting the police data, lawyer Saidur Rahaman, managing director of the Manabadhikar Shongskriti Foundation, acknowledged a slight decline in incidents of rape and attempted rape.

However, he stressed that attacks by husbands for dowry remain unchanged.

“Local influencers often suppress incidents of abuse of women and children. However, students have recently brought about a revolutionary change by working at the local level. If we can involve them at different levels, incidents of abuse will decrease,” he said. he declared.

Laila Arifa Khanam, head of gender equality and women’s empowerment at women’s development organization Nari Maitree, drew attention to the increase in online harassment against women.

She said that due to legal complexities, police stations often refuse to accept complaints about such incidents, leading to their exclusion from official data.

“Women are regularly victims of harassment on social networks, but as this is not considered a punishable offense by law, the police stations concerned do not directly accept complaints or file cases,” he said. she explained.

Recent studies by ActionAid Bangladesh and the United Nations suggest that violence against women and children is increasing in the country.

Child marriage remains a serious form of abuse, while the lack of effective legal remedies against online harassment adds to the challenges in addressing this problem.

Activists point out that relying solely on police data gives an incomplete picture of the situation, as many cases go unreported due to fear, social stigma and legal obstacles.