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Abstract
The human rights violations by law enforcement agencies in Bangladesh are a wider and systematic pattern of oppression grounded in the instrumentalization of coercive power by politicizing the police department. The study analyzes patterns of police misconduct that emerged during the 2024 July Revolution in Bangladesh and its relation to world trends of state repression in the global south, using qualitative document analysis. The paper evaluates the oppressive incidents through international Human Rights laws and Bangladesh's constitutional guarantees. Five interconnected issues identified in this study: 1. disproportionate and fatal force 2. arbitrary detentions and remands 3. restrictions on digital communications 4. torture and maltreatment and 5. inadequate accountability for police and paramilitary entities. The findings of the study show that disproportionate force, arbitrary arrests under the Digital Security Act (2018), and AI-driven surveillance were the main tools in Bangladesh's 2024 July Revolution, reflecting strategies employed to stifle dissent in authoritarian-developmental countries. The atrocities highlight systemic injustices, as armed forces such as the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) institutionalized a culture of impunity, and policing institutions strengthened elite domination by targeting marginalized pupils. The study argues that such oppression mirrors a worldwide trend of "algorithmic authoritarianism," in which governments use digital technologies with colonial-era legislation to punish opposition.
Keywords: 2024 July Revolution, Policing, Human Rights Violations, Authoritarianism, Bangladesh
Author Biographies
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