Muggers are not mere muggers, they are murderers too

Danger lurks almost everywhere in this city. On roads, in street corners and even at gates of residences, life is under constant threat and only more so for women and girls. Roads are hazardous not only because of the crushing machines called bus, trucks and other vehicles but also because of muggers and robbers. Both safety and security of life in this city become a casualty without notice. Whether death is preordained or not may be a subject of theological and philosophical discourse but ordinary mortals cannot be blamed for harbouring strong reservation for what they consider premature and therefore unnatural deaths or killings. This city seems to be growing hungrier to claim lives under unnatural circumstances.

Recently a motor cycle rider hit a rickshaw from behind and as a result of its impact, the son of the woman passenger was thrown off her lap on to the road. When the motor cycle rider tried to save the boy, a truck ran over the child and him killing both of them. This may be an accident. But when two muggers on a motor cycle try to forcibly take away a bag from a woman passenger on a moving rickshaw causing her fall on the road leading to her death, it is no longer an accident. It is plain murder. One such incident took place on Sunday last.

Visualising a picture of what happened to the woman sends a chill down one's spine.  A single mother named Soheli Islam Soma on her way to her rented flat on Green Road from Gabtoli met her tragic death near Suhrawardy Medical College following her fall from rickshaw due to an abrupt pull of her bag by a pillion mugger on a motor cycle. The straps of the bag got entangled with one of her hands and she fell on the road leaving her with serious head injuries and a broken hand. She was taken to three hospitals including the National Institute of Neurosience and Hospital but she did not survive.

This is not for the first time that muggers have snatched bags or vanity bags from woman rickshaw passengers. In one such notorious incident, another woman, one of her hands entangled with the straps of her vanity bag was dragged several hundred metres by muggers riding a car. That brutal incident took place on the Mirpur Road near Kalabagan.

In the past muggers did not kill their victims but ever since the malam (balm) parties have appeared on the scene, they could not care less if their victims died or not. The conventional muggers have also turned killers by this time. They no longer feel qualms about inflicting grave harms to their targets. But the law has remained as flexible as before so that they come out of prison after a short-term imprisonment. It is time, the laws involving mugging cases, particularly when their victims are killed, were reviewed and updated.

How daring the muggers have grown is exemplified by another mugging incident that happened on the same day nearby the spot where Soma fell victim to mugging. Two policemen chased two muggers in front of Zia (Chandrima) Uddyan and managed to arrest them but not before the goons inflicted stab injuries to the law enforcers. The two members of the law enforcement agency are now under treatment.

Occasional drives against muggers produce some positive results. Mugging incidents drastically decline. This is a clear indication that the law enforcement agency knows about the whereabouts of most muggers. If their dens are stormed once and for all, mugging can be brought under control. But the police do not go for such campaign for two reasons. First, there is an understanding between a dubious section of them and the muggers for financial benefit. Second, the lax laws allow the anti-social goons to come out of prison after serving a short-term jail sentence.

If the legal parameter is stringently set according to the seriousness of the crime, the muggers would be unable to walk out of jail on bail or after a short-term imprisonment. In cases like that of Soma, it is a crime of homicide. So the muggers have to be arrested as early as possible and tried for murder. If punishment is awarded accordingly, it will act as a deterrent to this type of crime.

nilratanhalder2000@yahoo.com