Stating that incidents of enforced disappearances were not confined to any single political party, the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances has documented chilling accounts of torture suffered by three victims as illustrative examples.
According to the commission, during the rule of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted in the face of the student–public uprising, enforced disappearance affected people across the political and social spectrum.
One of the three victims was a Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) activist.
He told the commission, “As soon as they applied electric shocks to my genitals, I became senseless on the spot. I don’t know how long I lay there. After a while, I could hear voices saying, ‘He’s alive, he’s alive…’ Then they told each other, ‘Hang him.’ They hung me again and beat me again… They kept saying, ‘Don’t you understand? You write about the Pilkhana massacre.’”
The report also includes the testimony of an activist of Islami Chhatra Shibir, who described prolonged and severe torture.
He told the commission, “They used to keep me in front of their torture room. Whenever extremely loud music was played, I knew they were beating someone. The screams were so intense that, honestly, I would immediately feel the urge to defecate.”
“For two continuous months my eyes were blindfolded. Because of this, I suffered excruciating pain in my eyes—it felt as if everything would tear apart. … When I was finally released, I had to undergo surgery on my eye. The retinal ending was torn,” he added.
The report further documents the experience of a female student who was subjected to enforced disappearance and torture.
She told the commission, “They hung me with my arms tied out to both sides, almost like a crucifixion. They took away our scarves; I was not wearing an orna. And because I was facing the window, countless men would come just to look at us—it’s beyond words. They were enjoying it. They would say to each other, ‘She talks about purdah—now all her purdah has been stripped away.’”
She further recounted, “My menstrual date was still some time away. But due to the torture, I became so unwell that my period started immediately. I told them I needed a sanitary pad. They laughed about it.”
The Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances submitted its final report to chief adviser professor Muhammad Yunus on 4 January at the State Guest House Jamuna.
On Tuesday, the chief adviser’s press wing published the 229-page final report. Prior to this, key excerpts of the report had been released at various times.
According to the commission, enforced disappearances were primarily politically motivated. The final report states that evidence has been found indicating the direct involvement of then prime minister Sheikh Hasina (sentenced to death in a case of crimes against humanity), her defence affairs adviser Major General (retd) Tarique Ahmed Siddique, and former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan (also sentenced to death in a crimes against humanity case) in high-profile cases of enforced disappearance.
The report presents evidence of crimes committed by members of the armed forces serving in RAB (Rapid Action Battalion), police officers, and officials from various other forces, as well as personnel from intelligence agencies including the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) and the National Security Intelligence (NSI).
The commission stated that a total of 1,913 complaints were submitted. After verification and scrutiny, 1,569 complaints were categorised as enforced disappearances under the defined criteria. Of these, 287 cases fell into the “missing and dead” category.
In total, 222 individuals appeared before the commission for questioning. Among them were 100 members of the army, 98 police personnel, 10 civilians, five from the air force, five from the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), three from the navy, and one from the coast guard.
In addition to recording their statements, the commission interviewed 765 individuals, including victims of enforced disappearance and members of their families.
The commission also examined cases in which individuals were allegedly transferred across the border into India.
Through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, information was sought from Indian authorities, who initially provided a list of 1,052 Bangladeshis held in Indian prisons, followed later by a list of 3,285 individuals.
However, none of the persons whose whereabouts remain unknown were found on these lists. The commission also reviewed information from police and the BGB regarding individuals who had been pushed back into Bangladesh by India’s Border Security Force (BSF) at various border points.
Following the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government through the July mass uprising, the interim government formed the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances on 27 August 2024 to investigate disappearances that occurred during her administration.
The commission is headed by retired High Court justice Mainul Islam Chowdhury. Its members are: justice Md Farid Ahmed Shibly, Nur Khan Liton, Nabila Idris and Sazzad Hossain.