Criticism of the Awami League
Public criticisms of the Bangladesh Awami League include the Bangladesh Chhatra League, the Jubo League, the Swechchhasebak League, etc., as well as other bodies with which Awami League is overtly or allegedly involved, when they were in power or not. Notable examples include the Murder of Abrar Fahad, the Padma Bridge graft scandal, the Murder of Biswajit Das, the Murder of Sagar Sarowar and Meherun Runi, the Bangladesh Rifles revolt, the 2013 Shapla Square protests, the Bangladesh quota reform movement, the Violence of Bangladesh Chhatra League, the S Alam Group scandal, the Logi Boitha Movement, issues over disputed elections in 2009, 2014 and 2018, and the corruption at the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, etc.
Jatiya Rakkhi Bahini
The Rakkhi Bahini committed various human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killing, forced disappearances, shooting by death squads, and rape. Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal claims that over 60,000 of its members were killed. The most conservative estimates put the death toll at over 2,000. Syed Badrul Ahsan dismisses these claims as "myths."Anthony Mascarenhas chronicled the activities of Jatiyo Rakkhi Bahini in his book Bangladesh: A Legacy of Blood, where he writes:
The Jatiyo Rakkhi Bahini, which roughly translated means National Security Force, was an elite para-military force whose members had to take oaths of personal loyalty to Mujib. Despite its high-sounding name, it was a sort of private army of bully boys not far removed from Nazi Brown shirts.
Mascarenhas adds that by the end of 1973, the total of politically motivated murders in Bangladesh had crossed the 2,000 mark. The victims included some members of Parliament and many of the murders resulted from intra-party conflicts within Awami League. Within three years, political killings by Jatiyo Rakkhi Bahini reached 30,000. This included numerous Jatiyo Samajtantrik Dal members. Even the capital Dhaka was not immune to the violence. An unofficial curfew was introduced after midnight. Almost every rickshaw, taxi and private car was checked and searched by Rokkhi Bahini personnel.
1974 Ramna massacre
Jasad, frequently tortured and attacked by JRB, decided to hold a rally on 17 March at Paltan. They also made a plan to surround the residence of Home Minister Muhammad Mansur Ali on the same day after the rally. On 17 March 1975, agitated Jasad supporters tried to set up a barricade in front of the residence of the Home Minister Muhammad Mansur Ali after the rally. But prepared JRB personnel started firing indiscriminately upon the crowd leaving several people dead on the spot. A notable occurrence occurred on 17 March 1975. Jatiyo Rakkhi Bahini set up fire on the headquarters of JASAD on 14 March 1975. JASAD decided to form a rally towards Home Minister Mansoor Ali's house and surround it as a counter to that incident on 17 March.The rally that started from Paltan was forwarded to the Home Minister's house but the Jatiyo Rakkhi Bahini opened brush fire and at least 50 JASAD activists were killed on the spot.
During the regime of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, thousands of youths were killed due to the suspicion of having a connection with JASAD by Jatiyo Rakkhi Bahini. Among them was a leader of Bangladesh Krishok League central committee and a teacher of Nawabganj High School Siddiqur Rahman Khan was killed on 10 October 1972. On 17 September 1973, JASAD Student's League leader Bablu, Robi, Ebadat Ali, Motaleb, Kalu, and many others were killed in daylight by Jatiyo Rakkhi Bahini.
Notable victims include: General Secretary of City College Students' Union Jahangir, student of Jahangir Nagar University Shah Borhan Uddin Rokon, student of BUET Nikhil Chandra Saha; Narshingdi JASAD leader Alauddin; JASAD leader from Gazipur Akram, Joinal, Shamsu, Badal, Anwar; Manikganj JASAD leader Shahadat Hossain Badal, Delwar Hossain Haraj, Abdul Awal Naju, Najim; activists from Jamalpur Giasuddin Master; JASAD activist Abdur Rashid, Hasu Miah; leader from Mymensingh Masuduzzaman, Abdul Jabbar; Madaripur JASAD activist Jahngir, Saddam, Ali Hosen, Mofijur; Faridpur's Kamaluzzaman, Abdul Hakim; Moniddin Ahmed, Salam Master, Rafique Uddin from Razshahi; Ata, Ranju, Manik Das Gupta, Tota, Colonel Rana, Khalil, Rajjak of Bagura; Natore's JASAD leader Nasiruddin; leader from Pabna Ashfaqur Rahman Kalu.
Siraj Sikder was a revolutionary fighter. He was educated in EPUET, now which is known as BUET. After the independence war, he started his mission to establish a socialist society. During the war on 3 June, he established the political party Purba Bangla Sharbahara Party. On the first congress of the party, he was elected as the party's president on 14 January 1972. He started working as the President of the party. In 1973, he was elected as the President of an alliance of eleven peoples' organization named Purba Banglar Jatyo Mukti Front. However, analyzing the political situation of the country which was named "One Party Democracy" by the Guardian, and the increasing torture of his party members, forced him to choose the way of revolution.
On 28 December 1974, the government announced the first-ever state of emergency in the history of Bangladesh to arrest all the terrorists and opposition leaders. From then, Sikder was being treated as an outlaw by the law and enforcement forces. He went underground after the promulgation of the emergency. A Jatiyo Rakkhi Bahini commander later denied that the murder of Sikder was committed by his force.
Aruna Sen the wife of politician Shanti Sen, was detained by the Jatiya Rokkhi Bahini, along with her relative Chanchal Sen. She was subjected to torture while in captivity. Aruna Sen published a statement regarding her captivity in the 17 March edition of Weekly Holiday and in the June edition of Monthly Sangskriti in 1974. After Aruna Sen was detained, a writ was filed at Supreme Court. The court asked Jatiyo Rakkhi Bahini to present her in front of the court and prove her detention legal. They presented her but failed to support the legality of the detention.
Shahjahan was an 18-year-old boy from what is now Naria Upazila of Faridpur District. He was arrested in Dhaka on 28 December 1973 and handed over to the Rakkhi Bahini at their request. He was not seen again after 2 January 1974, when his brother said he saw him in custody at Rakkhi Bahini headquarters. His brother petitioned the court for a writ of habeas corpus, challenging the legality of Shahjahan's detention. The Rakkhi Bahini responded that Shahjahan had escaped on 29 December, so was not in detention and could not be brought to the court. On cross examination, officers said the organization followed no regulations or procedure. They kept no records of their searches, seizures, arrests, or other activities. Former Prime Minister Moudud Ahmed believes that because Shahjahan allegedly belonged to the student wing of the Jatiyo Samajtantrik Dal, an opposition political party, the Rakkhi Bahini killed him and secretly disposed of his body. Without evidence, however, the Rakkhi Bahini could not be held to account.
The court held that the Rakkhi Bahini version of events was "a pure concoction" that "demonstrates complete disregard of the law of the country." In May 1974, Justice Debesh Bhattacharya, condemned the organization in his verdict, stating:
The court urged the government to hold an inquiry into the whereabouts of Shahjahan, but none was ever undertaken.
Ayesha Faiz is the widow of Faizur Rahman and the mother of novelists Humayun Ahmed and Muhammad Zafar Iqbal. A house in Babar Road of Mohammadpur was allotted to her by the government for her husband. But just after three days she was kicked out of the house with her family by a Subedar Major of Jatiyo Rakkhi Bahini. She detailed the incident in her biography Jibon Je Rokom. Ayesha Faiz left the home with her children. She later recalled: "Once I was made refugee by the Pakistan Army of occupation. The second time it was done by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's Jatiyo Rakkhi Bahini".
1974 famine
When the famine started, millions of people came to the capital from villages in search of food. The government decided to drive the poor and have-nots out of the capital as it was embarrassed in front of the international community with the famine. On 3 January, Jatiyo Rakkhi Bahini was deployed to 'Clean Dhaka' depriving the poor beggars and the destitute from the city. In this operation, about 0.2 million have-nots and slum dwellers were taken away from the capital and were forced either to return to their villages or to be moved to the three camps. The camps were hastily laid out several miles from the city. The condition of the camps was disastrous. Amongst the three camps, the camp of Demra was the most appalling one, where Jatiya Rakkhi Bahini gathered about 50,000 people. Those people were ill-treated and sometimes they felt that death was a better solution.Al Mahmud did not listen to the government and tried to publish accurate news. When the government came to know that, they sent three trucks full of Police and Jatiyo Rakkhi Bahini personnel to seize the office and press of Gonokontho at night, and arrested the Editor Al Mahmud along with seven workers of the press.