THE female Superintendent Engineer of the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority, who was allegedly assaulted by two leaders of ruling party’s youth front in the BIWTA’s Motijheel head office on October 17, has made an appeal to Prime Minister for justice. According to media reports, the vice-president of the JL Motijheel unit slapped the engineer several times and shoved her on to the floor in Additional Chief Engineer’s chamber in the presence of others. Describing her humiliation, she told the media that the JL leaders had been putting pressure on her to sign and release the file of RR Enterprise despite huge anomalies. Officials and employees of BIWTA have called for the cancellation of RR Enterprise’s licence and also made demands for safety and security at the workplace.
Newspaper reports said on the day of the incident, Additional Chief Engineer called the victim to his chamber where the JL leaders were already present. The Addl CE asked her to release the file immediately, but she said that the file could not be released without proper verification. At one stage one of the JL leaders, who is owner of RR Enterprise, started slapping her in front of Addl CE. She claimed her boss failed to protect her from the beating. “Our Prime Minister is a woman. So, I appeal that she would ensure justice and set exemplary punishment so that no female official is humiliated in future,” she told the media. The BIWTA has filed a case with Motijheel police station over the incident accusing the JL leaders, who now hold the posts of president and vice-president of the organisation’s Motijheel unit respectively. It is not only in BIWTA; in fact the scenario is all the same in most of the government and semi-government offices. All sorts of tenders — from purchasing household materials to road constructions — are now under control of such rugged persons who use the banners of ruling party’s different wings only to suppress their anomalies.
Condemning such thuggish conduct is useless unless there is accountability on the part of government. Criminals and thugs are the creation of the government holding on to power without election. Lawlessness of the government has encouraged lawlessness everywhere.
It is a shame that a civilised people like us are impotent against the crimes of lawlessness and are forced to live in fear and humiliation. Where abuse of law is the law, it is foolishness to seek justice from the government. The advisers of the government dismantled the government machinery in the hope of establishing a personalised rule of the few. The result is — nobody in the government can ensure proper conduct by others in the government. The government patronised members of the Student League and its youth front considering them as the power base of the government. So they do not have to worry fearing any action from the government for their misdeeds. Now, they are part of the lawless government.
