‘Investigate Miraj Sheikh’s disappearance’

Human Rights Watch (HRW) yesterday urged the Bangladesh government to comply with a High Court order directing an investigation into the alleged enforced disappearance of 30-year-old fisherman Miraj Sheikh, warning that the case could be the country’s first known enforced disappearance in two years.

The rights group also called on the government to reverse its decision to abandon reforms aimed at preventing enforced disappearances and instead ensure accountability for security forces.

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According to a previous The Daily Star report, Miraj, of Joymoni village in Mongla, was allegedly picked up by Coast Guard personnel on the night of April 10, said his wife Mukta Khanom.

The Coast Guard has denied the allegation.

Mukta filed a general diary with Mongla Police Station on April 23.

She said locals informed her around 7:00pm on April 10 that her husband had been detained. When she reached the Coast Guard pontoon in the Thoda area, she saw him there.

According to her, eight to 10 men in Coast Guard uniforms and six to seven others in plain clothes were at the pontoon. About 30 minutes later, Miraj was taken away on a speedboat towards Harbaria, where a Coast Guard camp is located.

On July 12, the High Court ordered law enforcement agencies to locate Miraj and produce him before the court within 15 days after his father filed a habeas corpus petition.

Lt Commander Mahbub Hossain, media officer for the Coast Guard’s Western Zone, has repeatedly denied that the force detained Miraj and said it has no information about his whereabouts.

HRW said the case reflected patterns documented under the previous Awami League government. An interim government commission identified 1,569 enforced disappearance cases between 2009 and 2024, with 251 people still missing and presumed dead. The commission described the figure as a “substantial undercount”.

The organisation also criticised the BNP government for allowing two ordinances introduced by the interim government in 2025 to lapse. The ordinances would have empowered the National Human Rights Commission to independently investigate alleged enforced disappearances and inspect detention facilities without a court order.

Instead, the government has proposed legislation under which police would continue investigating such cases while the commission’s powers would be curtailed, HRW said.

“Thousands of people were subjected to enforced disappearance during Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule, and this latest case shows that without genuine reforms they can happen again,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

She urged the government to restore the Human Rights Commission’s authority to investigate enforced disappearances, saying police-led investigations would not ensure accountability or effectively deter future abuses.