Rights activists have expressed serious concerns as the incidents of sexual assaults and rape are rising alongside child marriage during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Between August 2020 and November 2021, at least 1,117 female children were raped across the country, according to the National Girl Child Advocacy Forum (NGCAF) on Sunday.
The number was 626 just a year ago.
Nasima Akter Jolly, secretary of the forum, presented the findings at a press conference held at the National Press Club in the capital on Sunday.
The NGCAF collected information on the abuse of girls aged 0-19 from 24 national, local and online news portals published between January and December 2021.
The actual number of such crimes is much higher than the reported incidents, according to experts.
Of the rape victims, 155 were gang-raped in separate incidents while 45 girls were killed after rape.
It said that some of the girls were raped by close relatives and have been facing severe mental trauma since then.
According to the report, some 116 girls including five special needs children were subjected to sexual harassment at home and on the streets during the same period.
In 2021, some 104 girls were sexually harassed.
The forum has registered a 12% increase in sexual harassment of children in 2021 compared to 2020.
In addition, 2,868 girls were victims of child marriage across the country in 2021.
The report termed pornography a relatively new form of sexual harassment with the increase of various types of cybercrimes.
It said that 52 girls were victims of pornography in 2021.
A total of 272 girls were killed in 2021 due to various reasons including domestic violence, rape and sexual abuse.
Parents have taken legal action against the person involved in 804 cases of rape and attempted rape. But most of the detainees walked out of jail on bail.
They even gave life threats to the parents after getting bail, the report said, adding that a number of parents and relatives of girls were attacked for protesting sexual harassment.
Badiul Alam Majumder, president of the NGCAF, among others, also spoke at the press conference.
