Brutality galore: A view of degenerate society

Every day when we look on media we are to see stories of brutality, death, torture, atrocities, fear, repression, etc. But the brutal incidents including killing of children, are taking place one after another, and those are shaking the whole society and raising various questions.

Humans have a propensity towards crime. They vent their anger by hurting others, making them suffer, oppressing and even killing them. Crime exists in all societies, but there is a way about crime. But Bangalis have recently taken it to a different degree, killing a boy through tying to a tree, killing a boy by pumping air into his body through his rectum. Just the world’s uncivilized nations like the Rwanda’s Hutu and Tutsis do such.

The government, law enforcing agencies and concerned authorities are trying to portray the inhuman incidents as scattered or isolated incidents. On the other hand, the country’s eminent and common citizens are deeply concern over the recent spate of inhuman incidents and they do not agree to consider those as isolated incidents. They term those inhuman incidents as a view of degenerate society.

 

Many were reportedly killed by law enforcers in the name of so called gunfight, crossfire, clash, etc. But the real truths never came out.

Country’s eminent citizens observe that the culture of impunity has made a section of people insensitive, resulting in rising inhuman killings.

Speakers at a recent roundtable styled ‘Let us stand beside children’ organised by a Bengali daily at its office at Karwan Bazar in Dhaka city opine that brutality against children and women are taking place due to the ongoing culture of impunity.

At the roundtable, National Human Rights Commission Chairman Mizanur Rahman says the children are falling victim of repression as the society is passing through certain instability.

He alleges, “None is assuring that the criminals must be punished. As a result, criminals are thinking that committing crime is not a serious matter at all and are getting encouraged.”

Human rights organisation Ain O Salish Kendra`s executive director Sultana Kamal says the tendency of doing crimes is increasing owing to the absence of justice.

“The criminals are getting message that nothing will happen to them even after committing crimes,” she said.

Executive Director of Campaign for Popular Education Rasheda K Chowdhury says the state must guarantee normal death for every citizen. “A culture of impunity has grown in the society as the criminals are not being brought to justice”, the former caretaker government advisor says.

Bangladesh Shishu Adhikar Forum director Abdus Shahid Mahmood opines that incidents of child repression take place even in developed countries but the offenders cannot go unpunished there. In Bangladesh, child repression cases cannot be differentiated from other criminal charges.

A culture of intolerance
The culture of tolerance means to understand other people and social problems. But we have failed to realize the characters and values of others.

Bangalis as a nation had an image of being music-loving and peace-loving. But that image has now been called into question, they are becoming impatient and are taking place heinous incidents one after another.

Culture of impunity is also a primarily cause of intolerance. Side-by-side, instability is breeding intolerance among people that is also responsible for committing heinous incidents. It is observed that those who are committing these incidents are not normal criminals like thieves or robbers. People are losing patience in every case and are committing heinous crimes.  

 
Bangladesh Shishu Academy Chairman Selina Hossain says the society is witnessing a kind of human disaster.

The most weird crime was committed in Khulna where thirteen year old Rakib was killed by the garage owner where he worked by pumping air through his rectum. Such brutal method of killing is not only unique but also unheard of.

Rakib`s only ‘fault’ was that he left his old garage job and joined elsewhere for better facilities. And for this, he had to die a cruel death at the hands of his former employer. A person has a right to shift the workplace for better one. The garage owner could not take the matter easily and becoming impatient he took the brutal method of killing.

In Barguna, the dead body of eleven-year old Robiul Awal was found with one eye gouged.  He was a student of a local madrasa and comes from a very poor family. His crime was he was catching fish and making the dirt road slippery.
 
Lack of accountability
In effect, the killing of the bloggers and the recent killing of the two kids are not different because those incidents reflect the inability of the authorities to create a culture of accountability. Political issue is the main cause and the second cause is social.

Recently, a video went viral on the social media, showing a poor young boy named Rajan, being tied to a tree and brutally beaten to death in Sylhet. It was an unwatchable video.

In case of the young boy Rajan who was beaten to death, the police helped the main killer escape. Some may be shocked by this behavior of the law enforcement personnel, but if one observes the trends in our country, it becomes obvious that the police and others play the largest facilitating role in protecting criminals.

Innumerable valuables are stolen every day in Bangladesh. If all thieves were beaten to death, every day hundreds and hundreds would be killed. Robberies take place every day, somewhere or the other.

There must be social protest against crime and wrongdoings. But it is the state that should take legal action against the criminals, try them and duly punish them. This must take place in court, the judges must pass the sentence based on the law, not under pressure from anyone.  A civilized and moral man cannot do the same as an uncivilised barbarian.

A community may be relieved at a notorious criminals being killed in crossfire, gunfight, etc, but this does not accept celebrations and distribution of sweets. That is not a reflection of a civilized society.

Degenerate politics
A nation’s mentality is moulded by its long-standing socio-economic circumstances and surroundings. The crimes are created by the society and the state. Nothing is done without any cause. Degenerate politics is responsible for a degenerate society. Corrupt politics erode the administration and help looting, raping, and violence to be institutionalised. 

Blogger Niladri Chaterjee alias Niloy is the fourth Bangladeshi blogger hacked to death so far this year. But it unfortunate that avoiding taking steps to bring the culprits under justice, political parties have remained busy to blame each other. The government always tries to take the matter as a political issue and involve the members of rival parties in a bid to keep them under pressure.

On the other hand, several political parties blame the ruling parties mentioning that they are trying to brand Bangladesh as a country of militants and fundamentalists in its own interest. They also say bogglers are being killed as part of a government`s political trick.


As is common in almost everywhere in Bangladesh, conflicts between leaders of a party, specially the ruling party, often give rise to smaller feuds and bloody clashes among their supporters.  Conflict between the local leaders in Doarpar of Magura town was one of causes of recent incident of a baby getting bullet-hit in her mother’s womb. The baby who later on was named Suraiya tasted the heat of a stray bullet even before she saw the light of the cruel world.

Mother Nazma was standing in the verandah of her home in Magura on last July 23. Members of two rival groups, who claimed to be supporters of the ruling party, engaged in a gunfight. One stage, Nazma was shot in her abdomen hitting both the mother and the unborn baby.  Miraculously the baby was saved when the doctors delivered her by cesarean section, a bit prematurely, and later, the doctors of Dhaka Medical College Hospital struggled a lot to keep her alive.  


Spread of drugs
In recent years, drug addiction has significantly increased in the South Asian countries including Bangladesh. Hundreds of thousands of youths across Bangladesh are taking drugs on a large scale, sending our society on the verge of ruin.  Daily newspapers and televisions are full of reports of drug network having a turnout of crores (tens of millions) of taka. This agent of human devastation has spread its tentacles to every nock and corner.

DNC intelligence sources say heroin is the deadliest of drugs in Bangladesh. In recent times, Yaba has gained in popularity and has become a `fashionable` drug. Cough syrup Phensidyl has remained the most popular among the masses because of its low price and easy availability.

According to the police and other sources, the number of addicts in Bangladesh is more than six million who spend over Tk 700 million (70 crore) every day on illegal narcotics. According to police sources, more than 100,000 people are directly involved with illegal drug trade and supplying that causes many heinous crimes.

The recent incident of a baby getting bullet-hit in her mother’s womb in Doarpar of Magura town was the also climax of a feud over illegal drug trade. Magura is one of the major transit hubs for contraband drugs trade, phensidyl in particular. It is next door to the Benapole land port in the neighbouring Jessore district. Any illegal consignment of the banned cough syrup coming in through the port must pass through Magura. According to police sources, there are around 25,000 consumers of the drug in this small area alone. Moreover, people from the neighbouring areas also come here to buy the drug.


Many experts opine that a situation of lawlessness has been prevailing in the country for sharp deterioration in law and order. As a result, incidents like murders of bloggers, brutal killings of children and a child being shot in her mother`s womb are taking place.  So, there is no alternative to improving the law and order situation.  There is a unanimous agreement that whoever is responsible for committing such or similar crimes must be tried.

The government clearly must indicate that there is zero tolerance for any violence against children and women. A specialised women and children police officer can be stationed in every police station, as is done in countries such as Indonesia. 

Finally, our society, our law enforcers, the state, the government and all of us must be civilized and moral if we want to stop various heinous crimes.

Risingbd/DHAKA/Aug 30, 2015/Mukul