A 14-year-old girl succumbed to her burn injuries at Dhaka Medical College Hospital on early Saturday. She was taken out from her house at about midday and some five or six men threw on her kerosine and burnt her alive.
Can any one really believe that there is a government or there are police for the criminals to fear? Certainly not. There is no government or police for protecting the people against helpless victims of powerful criminals.
On the same day and at the same hospital, a junior school certificate examinee died of injuries hours after being hacked by some teenagers as a sequel to a row over seniority and showing respect at the capital’s Chawkbazaar area.
And that’s not all, barely a month ago — two teenagers were killed in Mymensingh and Bogra. One of them was a roadside waste scavenger and reportedly beaten in public after being strapped to a pole. A video of the beating went viral on social networking sites and the body of the teenager was dumped in a bush.
At least a dozen such incidents of unprecedented brutality have been reported in the media since last year.
We don’t need experts, psychiatrists or scientists to buttress the fact that the recent rise in murders over trivial matters is a clear sign of serious deterioration of law and order. The criminals are powerful and crimes are committed daringly as if we have no government and no police.
Extremely intolerant politics and use of police for politics have created a helpful situation for police not to be helpful in fighting crimes. Out of frustration the police themselves are getting involved in gainful criminal activities. In many cases, the police and politicians work hand in hand in criminal activities. Unless accidentally caught for bad luck then we find some police and some politicians together have created crime-friendly dangerous situation for the general public.
If we have to be honest and want to be helpful to the victims of heartless crimes we have to say that the whole politics has been criminalised for too long a time.
One can question legitimately who are the people’s politicians and who are against the people? Those who can deny people voting right, they cannot be honest in anything in public life. So living unsafely and in fear of dangerous criminals have become our way of life.
Our appeal to police is — feel accountable to the people who are the employers. Police cases are no success for the police in fighting crime. It is a shame and failure for the police that the criminals feel safe while committing the crimes that they can get away with. For photographs, they sometimes arrest some people alleged to be the offenders in such cases. What happens thereafter in pursuing the cases remains uncertain.
It is the shameful failure that in committing crime the criminals do not have to keep in mind the fear of the police. In reality, the honest and innocent people have to fear police for their power.
It is the shameful failure that in committing crime the criminals do not have to keep in mind the fear of the police. In reality, the honest and innocent people have to fear police for their power.
For the cruel burning of the girl so openly and so defiantly of police power should make the high police officials ashamed. They should have publicly expressed regrets for their failure? Finding out the criminals and starting police case is not real success for the police. The police must be able to prevent crime and not become active only after the crime.
