THE incident of a woman having raped on a moving bus by its driver and staff is deeply alarming and cannot be dismissed as an isolated or episodic act of violence in a public space. The 26-year-old woman was reportedly assaulted after she had boarded a Savar Paribahan bus from Savar on January 14 to travel to Ashulia. Instead of proceeding towards her destination, the driver diverted the bus towards Tangail. Police accounts indicate that after the other passengers had got off, the woman was forcibly confined inside the vehicle, robbed of her gold ornament, cash and mobile and repeatedly assaulted throughout the night as the bus moved through different areas. The incident came to light only the next afternoon, when the highway police, finding the bus suspicious near the Karotia Underpass in the Tangail district headquarters, stopped it, detained the driver and two assistants, and rescued the victim. A case was filed against the three accused later that evening. Confusion surrounding the victim’s initial identification as a student led to spontaneous protests in Dhaka, including a brief sit-in and vandalism of buses. The police have further stated that the accused had recorded the assault.
Recent reports show that harassment against women in public transport in continues unabated, with buses and trains repeatedly being singled out as an unsafe environment. A national survey published this year found that more than a third of the women surveyed reported regular sexual harassment in public transport, including buses, launches and trains, and more than a half described the modes of travel as the most unsafe public space while only 1 per cent of victims sought help from the law enforcement agencies, reflecting public distrust and stigma around reporting such incidents. Patterns of abuse documented in Dhaka and other urban centres highlight the range of threats that women face. A study conducted in late 2024 found that nearly every woman passenger experienced verbal abuse such as catcalling and sexual comments on buses, with a significant number also reporting physical harassment. In addition, reports in 2025 pointed to a persistent harassment at overcrowded stations and in inter-district buses, underlining that these are not isolated complaints but structural problems of public mobility. The pattern emerges against a backdrop of institutional weaknesses: delayed responses from the police, limited preventive oversight on transport and a lack of a robust monitoring system that might deter potential offenders. Public transport workers and passengers alike often lack training in recognising and responding to harassment, compounding women’s vulnerability.
Without expeditious, visible accountability including fast-track investigation and exemplary sentence of offenders, such predatory behaviour will persist. Expedited legal processes, more rigorous enforcement of safety protocols and real-time reporting mechanisms could serve as essential deterrents and reassure passengers that violations will not go unanswered.
