ABSTRACT
The July revolution of 2024 in Bangladesh marked a significant moment in the country’s recent political history, during which widespread protests and state repression left many participants injured. This study examines how injured protesters narrated justice and accountability after direct exposure to protest-related violence. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 32 injured protesters selected through purposive sampling, the study explores how bodily harm, psychological distress, institutional distrust and unmet expectations of recognition and support shaped participants’ understandings of justice. Ethical safeguards included informed consent, anonymization, trauma-sensitive interviewing, participant control over withdrawal and precautions to reduce risks of identification or political retaliation. The interview data were analysed using Braun and Clarke’s six-phase approach to reflexive thematic analysis, with NVivo for data organisation. Five themes were developed as follows: Justice as rights, recognition and accountability; the physical, psychological and social consequences of injury; legal barriers and political impunity; gaps in state and community support; and continued protest as a demand for reform, healing and prevention of future violence. For these participants, justice extended beyond legal procedures to include dignity, public recognition, material support, accountability and institutional change. The findings are not presented as representative of Bangladeshi public opinion. Rather, they offer a survivor-centred account of how a politically exposed and physically harmed subgroup narrated justice after direct exposure to political violence.