A madrasa student in Feni was set on fire on Saturday allegedly for refusing to withdraw a case filed against the Principal for sexually harassing her late last month. With 75 percent burns, the 18-year-old is now struggling for life at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
Some four students of Sonagazi Islamia Senior Fazil Madrasa took her to the rooftop of its three-storey administrative building on Saturday morning, saying a friend was being assaulted there. The girl was an Alim (equivalent to HSC) examinee and a few minutes were left before the beginning of Arabic first paper test at 10:00am.The offenders fled the scene immediately.
Principal Siraj is a Jamaat leader and is accused in three cases filed with Feni Sadar and Sonagazi Model police stations on charges of subversive activities and attacks on police. He was earlier arrested but got released on bail. After the sexual assault case was filed, teachers and students of the madrasa got divided into two groups and demonstrated in the Upazila Headquarters. One group called for punishment of the Principal while the other demanded his release.
There seems to be a trend in our society nowadays to outdo each other in mayhem as bus drivers kill and rape people on simple whims without any compunction, young girls are sexually assaulted and killed, young boys are killed at their workplaces, building owners flout regulatory bodies to make death-traps, all the while abductions and forced disappearances remain too common.
Meanwhile, all academic activities of Sonagazi Islamia Senior Fazil Madrasa were halted yesterday following the incident. The Principal of madrasa Sirajuddaula who is currently in prison has also been suspended by the madrasa board of directors yesterday, said Additional Deputy Commissioner PKM Enamul Karim.
How is it that a Principal of a madrasa was allowed to remain in his office while being accused in three cases? Why the governing body of such an institution did not remove him immediately? There is of course no regulatory oversight of such things though Deputy Commissioner heads the Madrasa Board of Directors; just as there is no oversight of bus drivers and helpers, chemical traders and retail goods sellers.
Such an oversight is responsible for many deaths-deaths due to fire, as have happened recently in Banani and Old Dhaka, deaths due to driving which are occurring all the time, deaths of young boys who are beaten to death at their workplaces, which have also occurred within recent timelines. This is a systematic endemic malaise in our society where people act do whatever they like and have no compunction for taking lives at their whim.
Regulatory oversight could have prevented the buildings from becoming death traps, could have prevented chemicals from being stored, could have prevented miscreants and sexual deviants from becoming Principals of madrasas. It is time the regulatory authorities actually try to do their job instead of flinging blame on others. We don’t need endless blame games but rather sustainable solutions.
Unfortunately, it is not appreciated by those in power that encouraging lawlessness affects not only politics of the country, but the cruelty of lawlessness affects all of us. The cruelty in the government is bound to influence social behaviour also. There is a belief persisting that there are ways of going unpunished for committing crimes. There is some kind of arrogance that with right connections you can enjoy impunity against crimes.
