Public safety is not simply one among many services a government provides. It is a test of the state’s purpose, constitutional responsibility and legitimacy.
A state exercises public authority in the name of its citizens collects taxes from them and regulates their conduct.
In return, it must establish conditions in which people can live without unreasonable fear of violence, intimidation, exploitation or arbitrary harm.
When people cannot feel secure in homes, schools, workplaces or public spaces, the failure undermines the purpose of public authority.
This principle merits attention as Bangladesh approaches World Children’s Day on 20 November.
The question is whether institutions enable people, especially women and children, to exercise their rights and live with dignity. Public safety must be measured by the state’s demonstrated capacity to protect people, not by its stated intentions.
Bangladesh has advanced in education, health, poverty reduction and social development.
Yet progress remains incomplete when people experience violence at home, face harassment in public spaces or cannot obtain effective protection.
Fear restricts mobility, education, employment, civic participation and personal autonomy. Security is not separate from development; it is one of its essential conditions.
National evidence reveals the scale of the challenge. The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, with technical support from the United Nations Population Fund, reported in its 2025 publication of the Violence Against Women Survey 2024 that approximately 76 per cent of ever-married women had experienced at least one form of intimate-partner violence during their lifetime, while 49 per cent reported such violence in the preceding 12 months.
The survey includes physical, sexual, emotional and economic violence, as well as controlling behavior.
These categories are not identical to physical assault, but together they reveal serious threats to women’s autonomy and security.
The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics and UNICEF’s Bangladesh Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2025 estimates that 85.7 percent of children aged 1-14 experienced physical punishment and/or psychological aggression by adult household members during the preceding month.
It also reports that 47.2 percent of women aged 20-24 had married before age 18, while 13.4 percent had married before age 15.
These findings do not attribute every failure directly to government, but show why institutions must prevent harm and make remedies accessible.
The Constitution establishes the foundation for this obligation. Article 27 guarantees equality before the law and equal protection of the law; Article 28 addresses discrimination and guarantees equal rights for women in state and public life; Article 31 recognizes protection of the law; and Article 32 protects life and personal liberty.
These principles require protection irrespective of gender, wealth, political affiliation, social connections or location.
The state cannot prevent every crime, but criminalization and promises of punishment are insufficient.
It must reduce foreseeable risks, respond promptly to threats, investigate impartially, protect victims and witnesses, facilitate justice and correct institutional failures.
A law that cannot be enforced, a complaint mechanism victims cannot safely access, or a service that exists only on paper does not provide effective protection.
When serious shortcomings recur, authorities should explain what failed and what corrective action will follow.
Public safety requires an unequivocal rejection of mob violence. No accusation gives a crowd authority to determine guilt or impose punishment.
When violence outside judicial process is tolerated, coercion competes with law and every citizen becomes more vulnerable. The state must protect people from unlawful violence and keep its own powers accountable.
Citizens also have a legitimate claim to know whether public money produces public safety. People finance institutions through income tax, value-added tax, customs duties, fees and other revenues.
Public expenditure on policing, emergency response, courts, child protection and survivor services should therefore be judged by results, not allocations or announcements.
How quickly do authorities respond? Are complaints investigated effectively? Can victims obtain medical, psychological and legal assistance? Do recurring threats prompt preventive action? Taxpayers, journalists, researchers and elected representatives have a right to ask these questions.
Public reporting offers one part of the evidence. Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha reported on 19 October 2026, citing Home Ministry statistics that cases across seven specified crime categories declined by approximately 7.1 percent during January-September 2026 compared with the corresponding period of 2025.
This is encouraging, but registered cases alone cannot prove improved safety; reporting behavior, access and public confidence affect the figures. Police data should be assessed alongside victimization surveys, service records and independent monitoring.
The government should now adopt a public-safety action framework with five linked commitments.
First, prevention must be locally targeted. Police, local government, schools and social services should identify recurring risks around transport routes, educational institutions, workplaces and known hotspots, and then publish time-bound prevention plans.
Community consultation should inform these plans, while protecting complainants’ identities and avoiding discriminatory profiling.
Second, emergency response should be measurable. Authorities should establish and publish service standards for receiving complaints, dispatching assistance, referring survivors and informing complainants about case progress.
Performance should be disaggregated by district, gender, age and disability where appropriate, with safeguards for privacy. The aim is to identify and correct delays, not reward manipulated numbers.
Third, every district should have a coordinated victim-support pathway linking police, hospitals, legal aid, psychosocial services, shelters and child-protection officers.
A survivor should not have to navigate disconnected agencies alone or repeatedly recount traumatic experiences.
Trained focal points, confidential reporting and clear referral procedures should be available, with special safeguards for children and people at heightened risk.
Fourth, the government should publish a quarterly public-safety dashboard. It should report not only registered offences but also response times, investigation progress, prosecution outcomes, victim-support access and complaints against officials. Data should be independently audited and explained plainly.
Any decline in reported crime should be interpreted alongside survey evidence and reporting rates, not presented as conclusive proof of success.
Fifth, accountability must have consequences. Independent complaint review, parliamentary scrutiny, judicial remedies, media freedom and civil-society monitoring should help examine institutional failures.
Where negligence, abuse or deliberate obstruction is established, disciplinary or legal action should follow due process.
Local authorities should report how public funds are spent and what outcomes they achieve. Citizens should have accessible channels to challenge inaction and receive a reasoned response.
Protecting women and children also requires addressing the conditions that increase vulnerability, including poverty, school dropout, inadequate social protection and barriers to essential services.
Schools need safe reporting channels; survivors require confidential support without stigma; child-protection agencies need trained personnel and effective referral systems. Prevention must combine enforcement, education, social assistance and community engagement.
A child’s safety cannot depend solely on the household into which that child is born, nor should a woman’s access to justice depend on money or influence.
The state’s duty is not to promise a society without risk; it is to demonstrate that risks are taken seriously, institutions respond competently and failures are corrected.
Public safety is both a human right and a test of public-service performance.
Citizens are not merely recipients of government services: they are rights-holders, taxpayers and the ultimate source of public authority.
Their demand for security is not a favor sought from those in power. It is a legitimate claim upon institutions maintained in their name and with their money.
On World Children’s Day, Bangladesh should commit to publishing clear safety targets, reporting progress openly and ensuring independent review of failures.
The strength of the state is measured not only by its capacity to govern, but by whether ordinary people can live securely, exercise their rights and hold public authorities accountable when protection fails.
(The author is a Professor, Canadian University of Bangladesh)