Bangladesh's justice system is failing rape survivors at every stage — from the filing of a complaint to cross-examination in court — due to a systemic collapse spanning the entire judicial chain, according to a detailed report by The Daily Star, the country's leading English-language newspaper. The findings arrive against the backdrop of a string of deeply disturbing cases that have reignited public outrage across Dhaka and beyond.

The Cases That Exposed the Crisis

The rape and murder of Ramisa, an eight-year-old girl from Dhaka's Pallabi area, has brought the systemic rot into sharp focus. Her decapitated body was discovered inside a neighbour's flat — a scene The Daily Star described as 'a site of unimaginable horror where her shoes remained neatly placed outside the door while a life was snuffed out within.'

This comes amid a separate incident in Netrokona district, where an 11-year-old girl was reportedly subjected to a brutal sexual assault that left her seven months pregnant. The report also cited older cases from Madhabdi and Sitakunda as part of what it described as a 'predictable and tragic cycle' — initial horror, promises of swift action, and then years of delay or complete case disappearance.

The Scale of the Backlog

Official data cited from the High Court reveals that by December 2025, 30,365 cases had been pending in the system for more than five years. The Rape Law Reform Coalition, a Bangladesh-based human rights group, estimated a broader judicial backlog of over 10 lakh pending cases, with 10,000 rape cases unresolved for more than five years.

In 2025 alone, police recorded 7,068 rape cases across Bangladesh, affecting 5,171 adult and 1,897 child victims. Meanwhile, Dhaka-based rights organisation Ain o Salish Kendra documented at least 56 girls under the age of 12 who were raped in just the first four months of 2026, including 16 children below six years of age.

Law on Paper, Denial in Practice

The report identifies a fundamental disconnect between legislation and courtroom reality. Bangladesh's Women and Children Repression Prevention Act promises expedited resolutions, but the backlog is so severe that it effectively functions as a denial of justice, according to the findings.

'The fundamental problem lies in the disconnect between paper laws and courtroom practice,' The Daily Star report stated. 'Thousands of cases have remained unresolved for more than five years,' it added, noting that despite a sharp rise in reported sexual violence, conviction rates remain abysmally low.

Institutional Failures Across the Chain

The report identifies institutional incompetence and political interference as recurring obstacles — not isolated failures. Survivors reportedly face these barriers at every stage: initial complaint filing, investigation, medical examination, and courtroom proceedings including cross-examination. 'This data reflects a systemic failure to deliver verdicts, forcing survivors to navigate a process that often feels designed to defeat them,' the report stated.

Notably, this is not the first time Bangladesh's rape trial system has come under scrutiny. Critics argue that without structural reforms to the judiciary — including dedicated fast-track courts with adequate staffing and political insulation — the cycle of impunity is likely to continue.