THE gruesome cold murder of Samiul Alam Rajon, a 13 year boy, who would work as a vegetable vendor by some powerful people in the outskirt of Sylhet town has stunned the nation. It appears a shame on the nation when such barbarity occurred in a public place and nobody intervened. Nobody even informed the police to come to rescue the hapless boy who died from cruel beating on the spot. We are also appalled to see the prolonged inaction of the local police to nab the killers when one of the prime accused persons was even able to flee to Saudi Arabia where the Bangladeshi expatriates held him in Jeddah based on the facebook information of killing of the boy back at home and handed over him to the Saudi police. It is a shame that the Saudi police arrested the Bangladeshi killer before the Bangladeshi police were able to arrest the said prime accused at home.
Reports said the killers in their early 30s showed totally arrogant and powerful defying the law as they beat the boy tied to a poll at the market place early in the morning taking him as a thief for attempting to steal a peddler van belonging to them. In fact, Rajon was passing through the area to the local market to collect the day’s merchandise. At that time the guard held him mistakenly and handed him over to the owners as the alleged thief who lynched him beating with a metal bar until he fainted and died. He cried for help and water but nobody came forward to save him. As it appears the audacity of the perpetrators did not stop there. They uploaded a 28-minute video footage of the carnage to show their bravery to the world believing that they are above law.
It was about four days later when the social media brought out the tragic event to the open. It is at all meaningless to us to seek justice when killings and disappearances are accepted as politics. Normally, police take an alleged suspect in remand and obtain confession through torture. Justice system is itself full of holes. In this case, the video clippings have been provided by the criminals themselves in the hope law will not be able to touch them. The truth is those who are in government must answer why even the children are so unsafe in the country. But we do not insist on justice under law. We want a government that it belongs to the people and accountable to the people.
Now we have a Home Minister rewarded for his failures to check the worsening law and order situation as the state minister. We deeply sympathize with the family members for the brutal murder of the infant and we blame ourselves for permitting conditions where the government does not feel ashamed for being incompetent. Not only that, it allows everybody in the government to feel free to be unmindful to their duty to the people.
