28 killed in 36 incidents of mob justice in September

As many as 28 people were killed in 36 incidents of mob lynching across the country in September. Some 14 people were injured in these incidents.

Besides, at least 16 people were killed and 706 sustained injuries in political violence across the country in the same month. This came up in a report published by the Human Rights Support Society (HRSS) on the human rights situation in September.

The report states, although the human rights situation has improved in some aspects under the interim government, the overall situation didn’t see any promising progress. The situation has worsened in some cases.

HRSS report published on Thursday further said incidents like political violence over establishing supremacy, mob lynching, filing political cases and subsequent arrests, attack on journalists, killing workers, extra judicial killing and death in police custody, attack on minority, torture and killing of Bangladeshis on borders and violence against women and children have not stopped.

According to the HRSS report, prepared on the basis of reports published on different media, said at least 16 people were killed and 706 were injured in 83 incidents of political violence. Some 45 of these incidents originated from factional feud within the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and five were factional clashes between Awami League workers.

Of the 16 people, who were killed in factional clashes, eight are from the BNP and one was from the Awami League. The remaining seven were killed in attacks from rival groups. Overall, 11 of the deceased were leaders and activists of the BNP and five were from the Awami League.

Besides, some 110 women and children were subjected to violence in September. Some 44 of them were rape victims of which 15 are under 18 years.

Some 9 people were killed in clashes with law enforcement or in their custody. The report says at least eight more people from the Awami League, BNP and Jamaat were killed in attacks of miscreants or in clashes over establishing supremacy. At 250 houses, vehicles and business establishments were vandalised, looted or have been set on fire in these incidents.

The killing of six persons in the clash between Bengalis and hill people in Khagrachhari and Rangamati has spread fear across the hill tracts. Two people from the hill community were killed in clashes with the Army in Khagrachhari.

One worker was shot dead by the police and several others sustained injuries during workers’ protest in Ashulia, Savar, Gazipur and Narayanganj.

According to the HRSS report, some 90 media persons were tortured and harassed in 18 incidents in the month of September. At least 21 of them were injured, two were abused, three were threatened and two of them were arrested.

At the same time, one temple and four idols were vandalised in at least incidents of attack on minority communities in September. Apart from that, there were reports of arson, looting and vandalising shrines. At least 90 people were injured in these incidents.

Some 16 people were killed in 34 incidents of torturing workers in September. At least, 176 others were injured in these incidents. Besides, two Bangladeshis were shot dead by BSF in three incidents along the border.

The reports recommended ensuring people’s fundamental and constitutional rights by controlling the law and order situation. Otherwise, situations will deteriorate further.