Tanbazar, or Tanbazaar () was a 2,000-room brothel complex in Narayanganj, central Bangladesh. Until its closure in 1999 it was the largest brothel in the country and 3,500 prostitutes worked there. History The brothel was set up in 1888 during British rule. At the time, Narayanganj was the one of the biggest duty-free ports in Asia. The British who settled there coerced women from villages to provide entertainment for them. Later these women were discarded and socially boycotted. The women gathered in Tanbazar and the brothel became established. A girl of 14, Shab Meher, was brought to Narayanganj from a poor village with the promise of work, but was sold to a sadarni (madam) of a brothel in Tanbazar. She was tortured when she refused to engage in prostitution, and died from her injuries in the Dhaka Medical College Hospital on 9 April 1985. Following her death there was much media coverage against the brothel. A police raid on Tanbazar soon followed where 55 underage girls were discovered and removed and arrested 15 sadarni who had control over the girls. The sex workers had to pay protection money to the police and musclemen as well as providing free sex. They were also subject to extortion from local officials and political parties. Closure On 25 June 1999, local Awami League MP Shamim Osman formed a committee of 50 members to close the brothel and rehabilitate the women working there. By 29 June 13 of the 16 property owners had agreed to shut their premises. Police conducted a raid on the brothel on the night of 30 June and arrested 16 customers. Early the next morning a sex worker was murdered and tensions ran high, leading to a large police presence both inside and around the brothel. Shamim Osman held a meeting on 3 July to announce that the sex workers were not being evicted by rehabilitated. "According to ... our constitution, prostitution is prohibited. Therefore, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has decided to sanction two crores (20 million) takas to rehabilitate them and offer them a new dawn," Osman is quoted as saying. The sex workers said they had no wish to be rehabilitated. Under pressure from local authorities, and threats their other business interests would suffer, the property owners closed the brothel on 12 July 1999. The prostitutes refused to leave. Power and water to the brothel was cut off and