Staff Reporter:
The government yesterday published a comparative crime picture based on data from 2020 to August 2025, stating that murder rates in the last 13 months appeared to be high as at least 1,130 murders com-mitted during Hasina’s 16-year rule were only filed after July Uprising.
“The murder rates during the last 13 months of the Interim Government appeared to be high. This is partly due to the fact that at least 1,130 murders committed during Hasina’s 16-year rule were only filed after the revolution (after August 6, 2024 to August this year),” said a statement issued by the Chief Ad-viser’s Press Wing.
It said many murder cases were suppressed previously by ruling party thugs – and discouraged by police – and only surfaced and recorded after regime change.
Many categories of crime also appear elevated in 2025 compared to earlier years, the statement said, adding, “However, this is less about new waves of violence and more about delayed justice: Citizens are no longer blocked from filing cases against politically protected offenders”.
It said ruling party men previously prevented victims from opening cases especially when the perpetra-tors were activists from their party, skewing the data downward during Hasina’s period. Police were also reluctant to take cases against ruling party men, the statement added.
According to the crime data, it said, robbery fell from 1,405 (2024) to 1,314 (2025), but still high com-pared to pre-2023 levels.
This is because all robbery cases are now being recorded at police stations without interference from in-fluential individuals, the statement said, adding, furthermore, a supportive environment has been estab-lished within the police stations, encouraging citizens to report offences without fear or hesitation.
It said offences under The Law and Order Disruption (Speedy Trial) Act decreased sharply from 1,226 (2024) to 651 (2025) and rioting also decreased from 125 (2024)to 59 (2025) while theft cases dropped significantly from 8,652 (2024) to 6,354 (2025).
“This suggests that while reported violent crimes (like murder) appear to rise, common crimes are trend-ing downward, pointing to both better law enforcement and more accurate case registration,” the state-ment said.
The increase in murders and certain crimes since August 2024 is not purely a surge in violence – it re-flects long-suppressed cases finally being filed, it said, adding, some of the murder cases recorded during the last 13 months even date back to 2009-2013.
