TDS Desk

More than 16,000 people were killed across the country during the last five years under the Awami League government, says the police headquarters.

The information comes from crime statistics published on the police headquarters’ website on Thursday. With this, the police authorities resumed publication of the crime data after a disruption of more than five years.

According to the police headquarters, a total of 16,555 murder incidents took place in the country between 2019 and December 2023, based on the number of cases filed. As a single case sometimes involves multiple murders, the number might be even higher.

During the period, an average of 3,311 murders took place per year. There was no respite even during the coronavirus outbreak in 2020 as some 3,500 murders were recorded in the year.

Besides, a total of 9,955 cases of mugging and 1,685 cases of robbery were recorded throughout the period.

According to sources, the actual figures of mugging and robbery should be much higher as most of the victims do not file lawsuits to evade extra hassle. Also, the police sometimes refuse to record cases over incidents of robbery and, in many instances, register robbery cases as incidents of burglary.

The Awami League government filed numerous ‘fictitious cases’ against opposition political leaders and activists, alleging attacks on the police and explosion of cocktails, despite no actual incidents taking place. Later, the police stopped publishing crime data.

During the five years, a total of 2,452 kidnapping cases were registered, while the number of burglary cases is around 55,000.

It was a regular practice for the police force to disclose crime data on its website until 2018. However, the practice was stopped before the 11th parliamentary elections in the face of a huge public outcry over a large number of fictitious cases.

The Awami League government then filed numerous ‘fictitious cases’ against opposition political leaders and activists, alleging attacks on the police and explosion of cocktails, despite no actual incidents taking place.

Against the backdrop, a Bengali daily  published a report under the title “A deadly September in Dhaka!” on December 20, 2018.

According to the report, the police filed some 578 sabotage cases in Dhaka alone in September. The police claimed to have encountered 90 violent attacks in the capital throughout the month, but the city dwellers were completely unaware of the violence.

In the face of a huge public outcry over the fictitious cases, the police headquarters stopped publishing the crime data on its website and also removed the previously available data.