Culture of impunity must end to rein in crimes
Tuesday’s newspapers published reports on a number of grave criminal acts. A ride sharing driver was brutally killed on a flyover in the capital. The passenger on board slit the driver’s throat to hijack his motorbike. What is the reason behind such cruelty? Private cars, microbuses and trucks are frequently hijacked in this country. But the incident of killing for that is very rare. What is the reason to slit the throat of a driver for a motorbike that is not worth much? People are being killed over trifles. What is making these people turning so cruel?
According to another news published on the same day, a nine grader raped and killed a nine-year-old daughter of a neighbouring couple in Chattogram. The youth then hanged the girl’s body from a ceiling fan. In Netrakona, a college student killed his classmate after raping her. In Dharmapasha of Sunamganj, an eight-year-old speech impaired child was reportedly raped. A husband of a woman came under an alleged acid attack for filing a case after his wife was raped in Noakhali. Miscreants killed a woman and left her body on the road at Nawabganj of Dhaka.
The wife of a policeman was murdered at Sirajdikhan of Munshiganj. Police recovered the body of an expatriate’s wife at Sadar police station of Manikganj. An acting principal of a madrasa has been sued on charges of raping a college student in Rajbari. A member of police has been detained on charges of raping a housewife in Narayanganj.
These are the news published in Prothom Alo on a single day. Many more news of such criminal acts are also published in other newspapers and online portals. It is noticed that news of killing, rape and killing after rape have been mainly published in the newspapers. But in fact many other crimes are being committed frequently, but they remain unreported.
The incidents of crimes have turned so alarming in our country that except crimes like killing and rape, other criminal activities are not being considered as news. This high trend of crime is a matter of great concern. In this way the normal law and order slides to uncertainty and the sense of insecurity haunts the public mind. People lose the confidence on the state entities and security agencies that are enshrined with public security.
In Bangladesh there is a tough law in connection with grave crimes including murder and rape. We have a big police force to prevent crimes and maintain law and order. We have independent judiciary to bring the offenders to book. However, the trend of grave crimes including killing and rape is increasing gradually.
The criminals are considering the offences like murder and rape as an easy thing. They are so fearless that they believe they will remain out of the purview of the justice and punishment.
The main reason behind this is that the instance of the execution of trial and punishment is very low in comparison with the incidents of crimes. This culture of impunity is a matter of great concern for any state and society. We have to take steps to come out of this situation soon. The political influence has to be stopped in the application of law. The honesty, responsibility and accountability of the law enforcing agencies have to be ensured.