Social rot taking a heavy toll

Ashamed and stigmatised, a village housewife in Vedarganj under Madaripur District has left her locality for an unknown place, another, whose husband is a migrant with employment abroad, equally victimised has been forced to go to her parents' house and two college girls have stopped going to attend their classes. All because of a 22-year old youth pursuing graduation course in college. As the general secretary of Narayanpur unit of the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), the young sex pervert, Arif duped not only those four women but also two others by resorting to what is called cyber crime of the highest order. Secretly he filmed a housewife when bathing. Threatening to upload her naked picture online, Arif forced her to have sex with him. Similar tactics were also used for blackmailing the other five women and girls in order to submit them to her carnal desire. The pervert also filmed the sex scenes with all his victims and uploaded online.

On learning his unfathomable notoriety, the BCL unit there has, under the instruction of the central committee, expelled the man in hiding. This fiend reminds one of his more illustrious(?) predecessor, also a student leader of the Jahangirnagar University (JU). With credentials of changing loyalty to Chhatra League from Chhatra Dal, that sexually debased boasted his count of victims at a century. How terrifying and loathsome! What happened to that centurion is not known. Did he have no parent? If he had, how they felt when they came across the news of the infamous exploit by their son? None of his victims came up to lodge complaint against him and it is not known if the JU authority expelled him for his voluntary admission of waylaying so many girls or women. If not for anything else, he should have been punished for his immoral acts for such a depraved person sets a most vile example before the young generation.

Now the entire land has indeed turned into a jungle where men, irrespective of their age, like the two student leaders prowl on innocent and at times unsuspecting girls and women. It is because of such rapacious sexual drive, Tanu, a college girl, is sexually abused and left murdered in a most protected area, Rupa, another college girl, is thrown out of a running bus following rape and strangulation. What is noticeable is that the monstrosity associated with sex crimes is on the rise --each succeeding case outdoing the previous one. When one such fiendish incident takes place, there seems to be a frenzied competition all across the country to imitate it. There lies the greatest danger of all. Instead of putting forward something as a deterrent, society's discourse remains confined only to the details of such crimes. The need is to come up with constructive suggestions and steps that will teach a lesson so that people really abhor such vile acts and the perpetrators.

The forms of entertainment are mostly to blame. Admittedly, the majority of young people give in to cheap and questionable entertainment. Some of them less privileged could not care less because they cannot afford the luxury of owning devices that bring salacious entertainment to their finger tips. Others are preoccupied with their studies and have no time to get distracted or derailed. But then a few cannot resist the temptation of the prurient and do not know how to control their sex drive. Family background surely matters. But a society pursuing the policies and principles of capitalism is not a strongly held unit where collective responsibility is highly prized. Self interest is the guiding force where preservation of well-being of all ignored. Unhealthy competition for material gains has blinded most people leaving the underclass to fend for itself. If socio-economic misery and frustration tick like a time bomb to explode, newly acquired wealth throw some people's heads into a spin. They prove to be the ultimate danger for society because they indulge in all sorts of immoral acts in the absence of society's guidance and cultural orientation.

The moral decadence set cannot be fought if society cannot fight socio-economic profligacy. To fight it, there is a need for sincerity of purpose and integrity of character. Individualistic, people are each an island looking at others across a sea of mistrust and disbelief. Not many can claim they have the attributes needed for the purpose.