Our office was closed on Monday as Muslims in the country observed their religious festival Shab-e-Barat (Night of Freedom) on Sunday night and the following day is a national holiday.
No newspapers were printed but, as always, the TV channels were on. From early morning they were broadcasting the news that villagers on the outskirts of Dhaka had beaten six suspected robbers to death.
This happened in the riverbank village of Amin Bazar, in an area which is a hot spot for illegal drugs. In the afternoon, to my utter dismay, I saw an update: all but one of the victims, who were bludgeoned to death by a mob of several hundred, were students.
They came from different parts of Dhaka and it is unclear why they went to the death spot. The villagers and even the police insist they were robbers, but their weeping relatives told reporters that they had no criminal records and were just ordinary, fun loving boys. It has also been denied that they were interested in drugs.
Following a wave of robberies and kidnappings, the villagers had organized teams to patrol at night. One of them said they had identified the young men as robbers.
“We suspected they were robbers so we passed the message to other teams and eventually it was announced through loudspeakers all over the village,” he said. The patrol teams let the suspects enter deep into the village, then hundreds of people attacked them with sticks and sharp weapons.
There were many more people than usual up and about that night because of the Shab-e-Barat prayer meetings. What an irony that these young men were killed and one more was badly injured on a holy night.
Such an incident is very rare in a civilized society in developed or modern countries, but very common here. Ain O Salish Kendra, a human rights body, reports 72 deaths from mob beatings in just the last six months.
A tragic culture of extra-judicial killings in mob attacks is developing in the country, because in most such cases, the responsible people go unpunished.
Why such a horrifying trend?
It is as evident to commoners like me as it is to the experts. There is an erosion of trust in the justice system and law enforcement agencies, which is leading people to violence and taking the law into their own hands. People in the past often handed over a criminal or a suspect to the police, only to see them walk away through some legal loophole.
It makes people feel frustrated and insecure. And it’s that frustration that leads to an aggression that is literally deadly.
If this is not tackled with a much stronger justice system and the curbing of extra-judicial killings by law enforcers, I’m afraid this frustrated nation could be driven to total lawlessness.
Published on ucanews.com blogs 0n July 19, 2011
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| Frustration to justice and law systems is a fatal burning flame among many people in Bangladesh. Who will put down the fire? (Photo Credit: www.highopesgardens.com) |
Our office was closed on Monday as Muslims in the country observed their religious festival Shab-e-Barat (Night of Freedom) on Sunday night and the following day is a national holiday.
No newspapers were printed but, as always, the TV channels were on. From early morning they were broadcasting the news that villagers on the outskirts of Dhaka had beaten six suspected robbers to death.
This happened in the riverbank village of Amin Bazar, in an area which is a hot spot for illegal drugs. In the afternoon, to my utter dismay, I saw an update: all but one of the victims, who were bludgeoned to death by a mob of several hundred, were students.
They came from different parts of Dhaka and it is unclear why they went to the death spot. The villagers and even the police insist they were robbers, but their weeping relatives told reporters that they had no criminal records and were just ordinary, fun loving boys. It has also been denied that they were interested in drugs.
Following a wave of robberies and kidnappings, the villagers had organized teams to patrol at night. One of them said they had identified the young men as robbers.
“We suspected they were robbers so we passed the message to other teams and eventually it was announced through loudspeakers all over the village,” he said. The patrol teams let the suspects enter deep into the village, then hundreds of people attacked them with sticks and sharp weapons.
There were many more people than usual up and about that night because of the Shab-e-Barat prayer meetings. What an irony that these young men were killed and one more was badly injured on a holy night.
Such an incident is very rare in a civilized society in developed or modern countries, but very common here. Ain O Salish Kendra, a human rights body, reports 72 deaths from mob beatings in just the last six months.
A tragic culture of extra-judicial killings in mob attacks is developing in the country, because in most such cases, the responsible people go unpunished.
Why such a horrifying trend?
It is as evident to commoners like me as it is to the experts. There is an erosion of trust in the justice system and law enforcement agencies, which is leading people to violence and taking the law into their own hands. People in the past often handed over a criminal or a suspect to the police, only to see them walk away through some legal loophole.
It makes people feel frustrated and insecure. And it’s that frustration that leads to an aggression that is literally deadly.
If this is not tackled with a much stronger justice system and the curbing of extra-judicial killings by law enforcers, I’m afraid this frustrated nation could be driven to total lawlessness.
Published on ucanews.com blogs 0n July 19, 2011
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