STALKERS forced their way into a classroom and stabbed a girl before her dumbstruck fellows and teachers at a school in Sylhet city on Saturday afternoon. The victim, Nandita Sinha, a student of Class X at Syed Hatim Ali High School, was admitted to Sylhet Osmani Medical College Hospital with stab injuries, her family said, according to a report by a local daily. Students of the school alleged that Sakib, a local gangster, along with his two cohorts, stormed into the examination hall at about 1:30pm and attacked Nandita when the test examination was about to start. Shah Poran Police Officer-in-Charge Shakhawat Hossain said that he had visited the spot and talked with the school authorities and parents of the girl.
In another incident, a youth succumbed to his injuries at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) on Saturday. A gang of miscreants seriously injured him on Friday as he protested teasing of his sister in the city’s Bhashantek area. The deceased has been identified as Md Nasir Hossain, 25, a fish trader and resident of Pil Mohammad Colony in the area, police said. Quoting the relatives of the deceased, Bhashantek Police Station’s Officer-in-Charge (Investigation) Golam Nabi said that some eight to nine local miscreants, including Mamun, Alam, Sohel, Sujon and Bablu, had been stalking Nasir’s 15-year old maternal cousin (a student of Class VII) for last few days.
Both the incidents are completely unrelated but are yet reminders of the impunity with which the people who stalk go about their ways as they feel they are above the law. In the Sylhet case, the hooligans may have hands with the upper echelons of society as the victim’s brother said he was being asked to not file a case or written complaint with the police. The Dhaka incident occurred because the victim and his female relative were both members of the lower rungs of society and the criminals felt that they could do anything and get away with it as the victims did not have any social or political clout to prevent them from doing anything.
There are many other incidents of eve teasing which have occurred in the recent past and widely covered in the media. In most of the cases the girl being victimized belonged to a family which was neither prominent nor influential – and thus an easy prey in the mindset of the hooligans who tease as they thought they could get away with it. Many victims have been raped or even committed suicide due to the repeated mental and physical harassment which have left them emotionally scarred.
We must think of stalking or harassment as serious crimes and ensure that the offenders get the maximum possible penalty – if the laws are ambiguous they must be toughened up to ensure that very harsh penalties are dealt. On the other hand, if a nexus exists between the offenders and the local influential people – no amount of harsh laws will be of any use as the families of the victims can be forced not to file any cases against them – unfortunately no law can change societal attitudes completely.
