Bangladesh — Legal Help

The national emergency number is 999, and a Tourist Police unit covers the main visitor zones (Dhaka, Cox's Bazar, Sylhet). If detained, request consular notification immediately and say nothing substantive without a lawyer — your embassy will visit and provide lawyer lists but cannot intervene in proceedings, and pre-trial detention can be long. Police interactions often involve informal payment pressure; stay polite, insist on documentation.

Key statutes: Penal Code section 377 (1860) criminalizes same-sex acts; the Narcotics Control Act 2018 carries the death penalty at the top end; alcohol outside licensed venues requires a permit. Registered sex work is limited to Bangladeshi women 18+ under the affidavit system — there is no legal framework that covers a foreign client, and adjacent offences (public order, obscenity, trafficking provisions) are applied broadly.