Time to unite against criminal gangs

The dastardly murder of Lal Chand, alias Sohag,  a scrap metal trader of Old Dhaka in front of the Sir Salimullah Medical College (Mitford Hospital) on Wednesday last afternoon has jolted the nation to its core. The killing perpetrated reportedly by some rent-seeking thugs, alleged to have political connections, was witnessed by hundreds of onlookers who, out of fear, did not make any attempt to intervene and save the victim being battered with chunks of concrete to death in broad daylight. What is of concern here is the fear that benumbed the crowd who saw the killing taking place before their eyes. Small wonder that the criminals murdered Sohag, a citizen who earned his keep through hard work, unchallenged and with impunity. Is it that the crowd present at the spot was aware of the connections the hooligans had with the powerful quarters of society? In that case, it harks back to the days of the past regime when common people were under a similar spell of terror to protest any wrongdoing by the goons of the then-ruling party. Since the incumbent interim government is the product of the July 24 upsurge with its limited mandate and without any political ambition, one wonders, who these new crop of gangsters, political or otherwise, might be! However, through their murderous frenzy they were successful in sending a chilling message to the locals.

Some among the onlookers, however, managed to muster enough courage to film the gory scene of slaughtering on their smartphones that went viral on the social media.

To all appearances, there were no law-enforcers around to prevent the murder from happening in the first place and then apprehend the killers.

On July 11 last, in another case of similar kind, a group of criminals reportedly ran riot, firing shots and wounding a construction company staff in Pallabi area of the city. As could be gathered, the gun-toting gangsters attacked the builder company's office as they were not paid the asked for amount of Tk 50 million as toll money.

Reports of similar bloody acts of violence against targeted victims carried out by anti-social goons or ransom/rent-seeking gangs across the country including the capital city have been hitting the headlines in recent months. Even so, we have not heard any reports that members of the public who happened to be witness to those acts of violence turned into a violent mob and lynched the offenders.

Though those incidents of violent crime by rent-seeking terrorists have caused consternation among the public, who often expressed their anger on the social media, yet human rights groups did not come out in a big way in protest.

But of late the media and the various human rights activists have been found vocal against what they complained, incidents of 'mob justice' or vigilantism, taking place in the country since the incumbent interim government took power 10 months ago in the wake of the July uprising of 2024. Unsurprisingly, in the event of the violent overthrow of a government through a popular uprising, the masses, who are angry and disenchanted with the existing order, take control of the streets. In such a case law and order becomes the first casualty. We know this from our more than half a century of experience since the war of independence in 1971.  History of revolutions also corroborates this view. In the case of the pre-August 5, 2024's autocratic government, it was not only the wrongs committed by the ruling political party of the time that incurred the masses' wrath, the police force was especially targeted by the frenzied crowds, if only for the excesses some overzealous members of the then-police committed against the protesting students and members of the public. The result was, as everyone knows, a severely demoralised police force. So, the post-August 5, 2024 Bangladesh society saw a large number of incidents where mobs took law into their own hands and vandalised some establishments, attacked people suspected of being members or accomplices of the fallen autocracy. Such sporadic incidents of mob justice have been taking place in different parts of the country since the fall of the autocracy. People who are in their late sixties or seventies may recall how elements suspected of being anti-liberation or having committed crimes against humanity faced mob violence under the post-independence war dispensation. Many were killed on the spot, or were handed over to the police if they were lucky. The experience of 20024's July events was in many respects similar to that of post-liberation Bangladesh 54 years ago. Though many were upset by the post-liberation instances of mob justice, there were few reports of outcries from the saner sections of society. However, time has changed and so have the perceptions of the people concerned about the human rights of even the gross violators of human rights during the reign of terror of the previous autocratic regime. It is definitely a commendable development in a society where the people of conscience can still see through the haze of bias, prejudice, faith or extreme partisan loyalty. But such prick of conscience should better not be selective.

Thus the law-enforcers' failure to prevent the events of vigilante justice has continued. Evidently, whatever was left of the largely demoralised police force which was working for the interim government was not able to deliver as they should be able to do under normal circumstances. Even so, there is also no reason to be apologetic about such acts of violence by mobs and the police's failure to stop those from occurring. Equally important is to demand action from the police against the acts of violence and murders being committed by criminal gangs, some of them with political colours. Also, strong social awareness and resistance have to be raised against the new breed of extortionists and political thugs to avert reappearance of yet another spell of the reign of terror that the nation had experienced before the July 2024's mass uprising took place.

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