When the city sleeps, a different world stirs under Dhaka’s neon haze.
At Farmgate, where traffic finally thins and shutters roll down, a few young girls remain awake, curled under tattered blankets, clutching each other for safety.
“I don’t sleep at night. I’m scared. What if someone comes to harm me?” said 16-year-old Rima (pseudonym), her eyes fixed on the shadows beyond the pavement.
Rima came from Chandpur after losing both parents.
Her grandmother, who once worked as a domestic helper, disappeared into the city’s sprawl.
Alone, Rima began selling flowers.
One night, a group of men cornered her and stole her earnings.
Since then, she sleeps beside three other girls on the Farmgate footpath.
“When we’re together, at least we can scream,” she said quietly.
Across the city, 15-year-old Rubina (pseudonym) lays a plastic sheet on the ground near Karwan Bazar at dusk.
“I never know who will try to pull me away,” she said, eyes darting at passersby.
“I sleep in fear every night.”
Under the Moghbazar flyover, 14-year-old Shila (pseudonym) hides behind a concrete pillar.
A man once offered her food, then tried to touch her.
“Even the police chase me away,” she said. “But where can I go?”
For thousands like them, Dhaka’s streets are both home and threat.
Railway stations, terminals, and overpasses offer no real refuge.
Childhood dissolves into survival.
The danger lurks not just in alleys but in the gaze of strangers, and often, those meant to protect them.
A life lived in fear
Unicef’s 2024 report estimates around 3.4 million children live on the streets in Bangladesh; roughly one-third are girls.
A joint Unicef-Brac survey found 82% of street girls in Dhaka have endured sexual or psychological abuse, and 67% fear sleeping alone.
Nearly one-third sleep in open spaces without security or light.
Under the Children Act 2013, the state must provide rehabilitation for all street children.
But enforcement remains thin.
Government shelters exist, yet most girls never reach them, or avoid them out of fear of mistreatment or rejection.
“I once went with a social worker,” Rima recalled.
“They said I was too old. I never went back.”
According to the Ministry of Social Welfare, 17 integrated child rehabilitation centers operate nationwide.
From 2012 to 2025, they assisted 8,862 girls; only 1,448 currently reside there.
Tens of thousands remain on the streets.
“We want to help them all, but our capacity is limited,” said Md Abdur Razzak, an official at a child rehabilitation center.
“Budget shortages mean many children must find their own way.”
Dhaka University’s Department of Sociology found that most street girls work up to 12 hours a day selling flowers, tea, or small goods.
Their average income, Tk2,000 to Tk3,000 a month, barely covers food.
Around 42% are now addicted to drugs, often told that sniffing glue or smoking cannabis will make them “sleep without fear.”
‘Not childhood, but survival’
Social workers say most of these girls fled abusive homes only to face a new form of violence in public.
“They carry trauma from both family and the street,” said Shayla Akter of Aparajeyo Bangladesh.
“They are invisible victims of neglect.”
Dr Salma Begum, professor of sociology at Dhaka University, said society still sees them as delinquents, not children in crisis.
“Their lives are diaries of struggle,” she said.
“As children, they suffer insecurity; as girls, sexual threats and deprivation. They need rights-based protection, not pity.”
Several NGOs; including HEED Bangladesh’s House of Hope, Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), and World Vision’s Child Safety Net project; provide temporary shelter, food, and counselling.
But experts say the scale of need dwarfs the response.
Most initiatives depend on short-term funding, leaving hundreds of thousands without consistent support.
Public empathy is scarce.
Passersby often avert their eyes, assuming the girls are thieves or addicts.
What the girls ask for is simple: a place to rest without fear.
As Rima folded her blanket near Farmgate before dawn, buses roared back to life.
“Every night I survive feels like winning a fight,” she said softly.
“But I’m tired of fighting alone.”
