Bangladesh ranks seventh among the countries with high risk of abduction, according to a report by a UK-based consultancy, but Bangladesh Police have called it baseless and questioned its accuracy.
Police also claimed that before preparing the report, the organisation did not consult with them.
The list in question was published by Control Risks, an independent consulting firm specialising in measuring political, integrity and security risks in any given area, territory or country.
According to report, India ranks second only to Mexico on the list of abduction hotspots around the world, ahead of Pakistan, Iraq and Nigeria.
After several newspapers in the country published stories on the report and Bangladesh's position in it, an official statement was issued by police yesterday afternoon, in which they protested the report's conclusion and said Control Risks had not maintained the proper procedure that was required to conduct such a research.
In the statement, they said if the study was based on the number of abduction cases that had been filed with police, then the organisation had been misled by the statistics, as around 84% of those cases were filed by families of couples who had run away to be together when they could not get their families' approval.
The statement also mentioned several other reports published earlier this year by organisations leading in risk assessment globally, such as Help Build Peace, Red 24 and Nation Master, which did not identify Bangladesh as a highly abduction-prone country.
For the past few years, abduction has become a major cause for concern in the country, especially the disappearance caused allegedly by law enforcers.
According to a report published by human rights watchdog Ain o Salish Kendra, at least 88 people were abducted by law enforcement officials in Bangladesh last year.
Among the abducted, 11 were affiliated with the ruling Awami League, 18 were leaders and activists of main opposition BNP, three were Jamaat-e-Islami activists, 14 were businessmen and nine were service holders.
Of them, 12 were found alive, two found in jail while 23 of them were found dead. A large number of people are still missing.
