“When I returned from jail, my father wouldn’t let me speak about what happened,” recalls a man who was abducted by security forces and held in secret detention for over five months. Even inside his own home, his family insisted he remain silent—fearful that even a whispered memory could draw danger back to their doorstep.
This chilling testimony, drawn from the second interim report of the Inquiry Commission on Enforced Disappearances, captures the long shadow cast by a state machinery of fear. Titled “Unfolding the Truth: A Structural Diagnosis of Enforced Disappearance in Bangladesh,” the report paints a harrowing picture of how enforced disappearances have torn through personal lives, national security, and the justice system.
Submitted to Interim Government Chief Advisor Professor Muhammad Yunus on June 4, the report describes a culture of silence that permeated every layer of society. Survivors not only carried the trauma of abduction and torture, but were often further isolated by their families, who feared reprisal for even acknowledging their return.
“I wasn’t even allowed to cry,” said one survivor, describing how his father forbade tears, urging him to remain composed in case the neighbors heard.
The mental health toll, too, is vast. Dr Anis Ahmed, a UK-based forensic psychiatrist who treated survivors in Dhaka, observed symptoms of PTSD, depression, emotional numbness, hypervigilance, and even memory fragmentation.
“To disbelieve someone who has survived state violence is to retraumatize them,” Dr Ahmed warned, stressing that legal redress must be viewed as a psychological necessity, not just a judicial process.
The inquiry also questioned the mysterious fate of numerous detainees, especially following the events of August 5 last year. While hundreds were reportedly held in secret detention centres, only three—Brigadier Azmi, Barrister Arman, and Michael Chakma—were publicly released. Others, the report suggests, were likely freed quietly, fearing retaliation or further harassment if they spoke out. The commission confirmed that more detainees were released from the DGFI and RAB’s TFI Cell, but most have not come forward.
One of the report’s most disturbing revelations involves Subrata Bain—an Interpol-listed fugitive who was secretly exchanged between Indian and Bangladeshi intelligence agencies and detained in RAB’s notorious TFI Cell. While held in secret, Bain developed chronic illness and remained isolated. Yet, unlike many detainees who were eliminated or disappeared permanently, Bain was released in August 2024—only to re-establish his criminal empire under political protection.
He was re-arrested in May 2025, but not before resuming extortion and ordering killings.
The commission sharply criticized this secret prisoner swap, stating it undermined both national security and the rule of law. “Had Bain been produced in court, he could have remained in lawful custody. But the state lost all legal control by holding him off-grid,” the report said. It also noted that lesser-known detainees with far fewer allegations were quietly killed, raising questions about the motives behind Bain’s long, unofficial detention.
The report also found that widespread torture—often used to extract coerced confessions—had fundamentally corrupted the criminal justice system. Confessions served as a substitute for actual investigations and were often accepted in court despite clear procedural violations.
Survivors described purpose-built torture rooms in detention centers equipped with rotating chairs, pulley systems, and soundproof walls.
“They played Hindi songs during beatings to drown out the screams,” one 15-year-old victim told the commission. At some sites, detainees were monitored via CCTV even while using the toilet, robbed of dignity as well as liberty.
The report calls this network of disappearances and tortures an “institutionalized practice enabled by impunity and silence,” not an accidental or rogue phenomenon.
The commission further found that confessions extracted under duress have corrupted the judicial system. Legal procedures were bypassed, and security agencies relied heavily on coerced confessions as a shortcut to conviction—often without evidence or fair trials. These methods, paired with widespread torture and extrajudicial detention, have eroded public faith in the justice system.
The report indicated that enforced disappearances have done more than disappear people—they have disappeared public trust, weakened national security, and shattered the integrity of the justice system.