Arifur Rahman Rabbi :
It was around 10.30pm on December 9 when Ruhul Amin, 17 and Jisan Habib, 19 come to see off Ruhul’s mother at the Dhaka Airport. On the way back by a local bus, mugger snatched Jisan’s mobile phone when the transport reached Abdullahpur in Uttara.
The duo however successful in capturing the mugger, although the criminal fled the scene after stabbing both of them. The two were rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where duty doctor declared Jisan dead.45 days later, a cable operator Hamidul Islam, 38, was killed by hijacker in High Court area in Dhaka on Saturday night on the way to return home.
Meanwhile, police said that they detected the accused of two killing incidents. Surveillance and patrolling in the city was beefed up to control the crime including mugging.
The two incidents among many incidents that are increasingly happening in the city as gangs become reckless in winter.
Citizens are worried about security concerns as well since the incidents are happening not only between midnight to dawn, but also during the day.
Many blamed Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) for no proactive role for preventing the lootings and also claimed that even though the detectives were working to prevent the robbery, the responsibility of the local police was negligent.
Most of the people meanwhile avoid filing of a complaint to police apparently to avoid harassments.
Case statements lodged in Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) shows mugging is increasing as 83 mugging cases were reported in 2018, 119 in 2019 and 176 in 2020.
However victims and experts alleged that the numbers of real incident are higher as only few of them are reported.
Speaking at a press briefing on Tuesday, Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s (DMP) Detective Branch (DB) Additional Commissioner AKM Hafiz Akhter said mugging incidents are happening in different places in Dhaka at night and operation has been launched to control various crimes, including robbery.
Seeking anonymity, some police officials said the robbers sometimes snatched valuables, vanity bags, necklaces, mobile phones from pedestrians or people who were waiting on the road with the help of motorcycles, private cars or microbuses.
The incidents of snatching are happening different area including Demra, Jatrabari, Shahbag, Ramna, Badda, Mirpur, Mohammadpur, Gabtoli bus stand area.
Atikur Rahman, an MBA student and a resident of Rampura area, said he was caught by the mugger on the way home after finishing tuition last week where he lost mobile phone and wallet.
He told the New Nation that he did not go police station to avoid the harassment.
Some victims claimed that mugging incidents are recorded as general diaries (GDs) instead of cases when victims visit police station as the police have a tendency to underestimate the importance of investigation and crime in cases like snatching.
Human Right Activist Advocate Alina Khan told The New Nation that the police usually do not want to file a case of robbery to show that law and order is good in their area.
The general diaries are lodged without cases because of this but the GD’s are followed up properly, she added.
She urged law enforcement officials to abandon such attitudes. Otherwise the people as well as the country have sufferer.
DB chief Hafiz Akhter, replying to a question, said many kinds of crimes including fraud and snatching increase and continues to happen during coronavirus crisis.
“Mugging is not happening every night, but is happening often. But the numbers are not significant,” he said.
Patrols have been intensified and special raids are arranged to nab criminals, he added.
Asked on why police avoid lodging case, DMP additional commissioner said there is a tendency not to file a case in case of snatching. He requested the city dwellers to lodge a complaint with the police station.
