Bangladesh human rights defenders demand action against anti-gay violence and extortion
Sexual minorities in Bangladesh routinely face violence, harassment and extortion in the South Asian country, where same-sex activity remains illegal. In August, a gay teenage boy was allegedly kidnapped and assaulted, and a ransom was demanded from his family for his freedom.
In a joint statement, the Bangladeshi human rights organizations Bangladesh Institute of Human Rights (BIHR) and JusticeMakers Bangladesh provided this account of the incident:
JOINT STATEMENT: BIHR and JusticeMakers Bangladesh are deeply concerned over physical assault against a gay teenage boy in Dhaka.
Bangladeshi human rights organizations Bangladesh Institute of Human Rights (BIHR) and JusticeMakers Bangladesh have expressed deep concern over the recent case of physical assault and extortion after wrongful confinement of a gay minority boy in the Mirpur area of Dhaka.
At the same time, BIHR and JusticeMakers Bangladesh strongly demanded that all the criminals directly or indirectly involved in the incident should be quickly identified and arrested and given exemplary punishment with due process.
According to the report broadcast on DBC News on August 8, 2022, a boy named Morshed was introduced through Facebook to the gay teenage victim, who had just appeared for the Secondary School Certificate examination in the Keraniganj area of Dhaka. Morshed allegedly lured the victim to meet him in Dhaka’s Mirpur district.
When the victim appeared in Mirpur, Morshed allegedly took him to a house where he was confined and physically assaulted with four or five others.
At one point, the accused criminals allegedly demanded a ransom of 50,000 Bangladeshi taka (about US $490) from the victim’s parents on a mobile phone, otherwise they threatened to kill the youth. To save their son, the family of the victim paid the ransom through the Bkash mobile money service and Nagad electronic money transfer system.
Later, the family of the victim filed a case against the alleged assailants. The detective branch of police arrested three of the accused criminals. The main accused, Morshed, is still at large.
Advocate Shahanur Islam, Secretary-General of BIHR and JusticeMakers Bangladesh as well as a noted lawyer and gay rights activist in Bangladesh, believes that the physical assault and ransom is not an isolated incident in Bangladesh.
Rather, all over the country, homosexuals are constantly subjected to violations of basic human rights such as torture, abduction, murder, humiliation, neglect, discrimination, deprivation, and forced marriage.
Shahanur Islam thinks that, due to family and social unacceptability and intolerance, state persecution and discrimination, as well as Section 377 of the Bangladesh Penal Code which criminalizes homosexual relations, most human rights violations against LGBT people remain hidden.
He urges the government of Bangladesh to repeal Section 377 of the Bangladesh Penal Code after providing constitutional recognition to sexual minorities, as well as to enact laws for their protection and to ensure the necessary safety and security of the victimized teenager immediately.
