Attacks on media persons by goons protected by the current regime in Bangladesh on the rise , reports confirm reality

By Our Correspondent

Agartala, September 6, 2025

The all-round lawlessness that gripped Bangladesh since August 5 last year has taken the heaviest toll on working journalists discharging their professional duties. Within days of the forced ouster of the Awami League government a number of media offices including TV channel offices were vandalised and burnt down and a series of other atrocities like murder, forced dismissal from service and incarceration in jails. According to an authentic report published by an international media watch body , till may this year 5 journalists were killed by anti-social elements attached to the ruling dispensation in Bangladesh while 640 media persons were targeted in various ways. At least 35 journalists including former office-bearers of National Press Club continue to rot in jails without trial and without being produced in courts.

The overall gloomy picture has recently emerged from a report of the Human Rights Support Society (HRSS).The latest monthly report from the Human Rights Support Society (HRSS) reveals that Bangladesh is failing catastrophically in this basic duty. According to the report, Bangladesh witnessed a sharp rise in violence against journalists in August, among other demographics, with 39 incidents affecting 72 journalists. Among the affected journalists, one journalist was murdered, 11 threatened, five assaulted, 33 injured, one arrested, two charged, and 19 others were dismissed from their jobs.Indeed, the past month witnessed the high profile cases of journalist Md Asaduzzaman Tuhin being murdered in Gazipur, Anwar Hossain Sourav being assaulted in the same part of the city, and the body of Bibhu Ranjan Sarker being recovered from the River Meghna.

This alarming surge in attacks on the press cannot be viewed in a vacuum -- it is inextricably linked to the broader landscape of lawlessness detailed in the same HRSS report. The 67 incidents of political violence, the mob beatings, and the unchecked border killings paint a picture of a state struggling to uphold its most fundamental duty: The protection of its citizens.

All of this is in the backdrop of the interim government’s complete failure to implement any of the recommendations prescribed by its own reform commissions, one of which -- a media reform commission -- was meant to ensure that journalists be treated well alongside the overarching goal of revitalizing Bangladesh’s press landscape.A nation cannot call itself a democracy when those who are entrusted to keep the powers-that-be in check are left to fend for themselves, either in terms of job security or indeed their personal safety.

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