Christopher Blackburn, Priyajit Debsarkar & Dr. Robert B. Lancia The political transition following the August 2024 uprising, which forced Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from her office after 15 years in power, has seen a disturbing, dramatic, and organised escalation in mob violence in Bangladesh. From August 2024 through July 2025, at least 637 citizens, including 41 Police officers, were lynched in well-premeditated and orchestrated acts of vigilante justice, marking one of the deadliest waves of extrajudicial killings in the country's recent history.
Among 637 deaths, 182 people were burnt in Gaji Tyres, Rupganj, Narayanganj, on August, 25 2024. Their names and details of the victims were not published, in what seems like a state-sponsored suppression of facts in the name of unnamed looters and opportunists. Because of strong media censorship, it is virtually impossible to ascertain the exact figure, which is presumed to be much higher. Thus, this figure should be considered evolving as the horror keeps unfolding. This sharp increase underscores a dangerous erosion of law and order during a period of political instability and weakened state control.
The fall of a longstanding, democratically elected government created a sudden power vacuum and a public crisis of confidence in the country's justice system, which many now perceive as either absent or co-opted by political agendas. With police forces overstretched, court systems paralysed, and local leaders either targeted or in hiding, citizens increasingly took justice into their own hands, which is the hallmark of a collapsing system. Public spaces, once protected by law, have become flashpoints for mob killings, often triggered by nothing more than suspicion, rumour, or political resentment that have a hidden agenda and pre-planning. Accusations of theft or harassment, a large portion of the violence had political or communal undertones and an abundant use of the infamous draconian blasphemy laws. Local human rights organizations, in their limited capacity, have reported that over 70% of lynching victims since August 2024 had ties to the former ruling Bangladesh Awami League or its affiliated student and labour wings.
A recent survey by the South Asian Network on Economic Modelling (SANEM) found that 71% of Bangladeshi youth believe that mob violence is now a regular part of public life, and 47
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