Faruque Ahmed
In Bangladesh cruelty to human beings is becoming reckless. Chairman of National Human Rights Commission has said miscreants have gone beyond control, as justice is not meted out on time. Many tend to understand that ruling party nominees holding constitutional posts primarily make such comments as an eye wash. They are not serious in asking for accountability from the government which is however helping the miscreants in many ways to remain out of control.
The slaying of a thirteen-year old boy Razon in the outskirt of Sylhet town proved once again how cruel and reckless man can become at will to bring shame on the society. They killed the boy on the spot proving the saying that ‘what is play to you is death to others.’ This time it is not the frogs but a hapless young boy was killed just to get some kicks.
Other incidents Another incident at Parbatipur in the Dinajpur districts last week was equally cruel and shameful on our face. A teen age girl was raped there by an elderly man and he was later saved by the local ruling party leader on a bribe of Tk 50,000. The story said the locally influential person arranged arbitration and asked the man to pay compensation to the girl’s family. They also received Tk 50.000 as their arbitration fees and asked the family not to go to any court of law to file a case. The poor family remained quiet. The cost of the girl’s honour was fixed by the influential leader who made equal amount of money in the process for himself thanks to the rape of the ill-fated girl. Police and local administration knew the incident but they kept quite ignoring the mischief of the locally influential ruling party men. In fact, such rape cases and torture on women is a regular phenomenon and when it becomes public it tend to bring fortune to local men dominating the society. It appears that these two cases, like thousands of other such cases, would have gone unheeded as the poor have hardly any means to reach out to local administration or court to seek justice. Only media reports on occasions break such monotony and bring cases to public notices. The slaying of the ill-fated boy at Sylhet took place early in the morning on July 8 and it went unnoticed for almost a week. The torturers themselves led their way to public uproar as they uploaded the 28-minute video boosting their feat. ‘We will upload it on Facebook. The world will see it.” This was what the murderers said while torturing Rajon to death, news report said. But question arises as to why they were so boastful and local police were so evasive of the torture to death of the boy who would regularly work as a vegetable vendor to help his family.
Police did not act on time His father is a driver by profession and he never had much income and the boy lent his support to the family abandoning his school. News report said the body of the boy was recovered at mid-day on July 8 by police as it was abandoned by the killers who had earlier sought to hide it in a microbus. People resisted the move and it became public. As per news report the boy who started early in the morning on that day for city wholesale market. He was caught on the way mistakenly as a thief when some muggers were chased by local guards of a market who attempted to steal a peddler’s van. The guards handed the boy to the owners who started torturing him tying with a poll and lashing with metal rod all over the body. They were joking while beating for over half an hour as the boy cried for help and water but the beastly torturers did not pay any heed until he died on the spot. The boy remained un-tracked over the day and when his father went to the local police station to lodge a diary, he found the body of his son over there. The question is that why police did not quickly act until public outcry at national and international level called for drastic action to bring the killers to justice. As it appears the torturers come from a wealthy family with political linkage to ruling party. Police were helping them to cover up the matter. Four days thus passed when one of the prime accused were allowed to leave the country for Saudi Arabia where he works.
Lawlessness breeds anarchism Latest news report said Bangladeshi expatriates who live in Jeddah came to know of his cruelty from the face book posting and laid siege on his house. They overpowered him and later handed him over to Saudi police. Back at home, police also arrested the prime accused as his cruelty was also being flashed in the face book posting. Bangladesh is up in arms against the barbarity as the gruesome killing of the boy hogged global headlines. It clearly shows the extent of lawlessness and anarchy into which our society has plunged. Social media and newspapers all over the world decried the cruelty and demanded justice. Rent seeking in rape cases by ruling party men is yet another barbarism and what is noticeable is that the degradation of our police and political leadership at various levels is being reflected in the society as it ends up paying heavy price in all fronts. One cannot expect quality political leadership in the country in the absence of good governance, accountability and political tolerance. Lack of lawlessness and good governance and the rise of authoritarianism breeds anarchism which the society is now reaping.
Source: Weekly Holiday
