Media report on Wednesday said a High Court bench has issued a rule asking the Principal of Udayan Higher Secondary School and other concerned education department officials to explain why appropriate legal action will not be taken against a teacher of the school who tortured a class eight student in the school making him instantly sick. The Court comprising of Justice Salma Masud Chowdhury and Justice Md Salim acting on a suomoto gave the authorities four weeks time when they should carry out the probe and report to the Court. Everybody highly appreciates the role of the High Court Division responding to the inhuman conduct of the teacher. But this is also a fact that the judiciary, particularly the lower courts, is also happily tolerating cruelty in the justice system. Remanding an accused to police custody for questioning has become normal without caring about the humanity of the justice process. Granting of bail to an accused is dependent on police allegations and the fundamental right that he is innocent before found guilty after trial is not an important consideration. Even the Supreme Court is unsympathetic to allow an accused to be free to defend himself. So it is said that police finds who is guilty and the court who is innocent. It is indeed a shame that an academic institutions like the Udayan School in the center of the capital made the headlines of torture in a national daily on Tuesday. It is quite incomprehensible for any sensible person why a staff teacher, who is not otherwise a crook, to be so angry with a teenage boy that prompted him to call him from the classroom and beat indiscriminately in the corridor. The Court has also rightly asked the Principal and the Management Board to conduct its own probe into the matter and report to the Court within a month. It will be too much to say that the people are overwhelmingly shocked by the teacher beating his student cruelly. Because cruelty is everywhere. Torturing and killing of people not in power do not mean much. There may be any reason that may have annoyed the teacher but a trained and qualified teacher is always equipped with the controlling method of errant students with tolerance and humanity. A school teacher is certainly unfit who can be cruel with his students. It is true that news on beating students in schools and madrashas often comes out in the media from remote areas and people from all walks of life that also include human right activists and other concerned citizens are vocal against it. Cruelty to children generally has been on the rise. Murder of Tanu has still remained unresolved. We have to end the politics of cruelty and hunger for power. We must have responsible and competent political leaders capable of building a humane, honest and dignified nation. We find ourselves in the wrong hands telling of building for us a Sonar Bangla. We want Bangladesh to be a country of humanity and human rights and not of gold medal.
