The brutal murder of five-year-old Tuhin Miah by his uncle and cousin with his father’s help for implicating the rivals have raised a big question about the reliability of “fatherhood”. Words are inadequate to condemn the brutality in a time when armed attacks, gouging of eyes, hanging, lynching, cutting limbs, gang-rape are tolerated as the people are living in fear that the government is of no help.
Sunamganj’s Acting Superintendent of Police Md Mizanur Rahman said: “Tuhin’s father Abdul Basir, Basir’s brother Nasir Uddin and nephew Shahriar murdered the five-year-old and hung him from the tree to frame their rivals. We have found the involvement of several family members in the murder following preliminary investigation.”
Our police and the lower judiciary are in such a subservient position that police version does not necessarily true because of local politics. So we, like many others, want to know more from other sources including the investigative media. To live with lies has become the judicial process. We cannot be sure who is how maneuverable. Many institutions connected with judiciary have suffered from lack of public credibility for their submission to political pressure.
The police official also said that Basir is accused in several cases, including one filed over murder. The other four are also named in a number of cases. “Basir has old rivalries with a number of people of the Kejaura village, including former UP member Anwar Hossain, Soleman and Salatul, over different issues. He decided to kill Tuhin in a bid to frame the rivals and establish dominance in the area.”
Sunamganj Judicial Magistrate recorded the confessional statements of Tuhin’s uncle Nasir Miah and cousin Shahriar under section-164 of the Penal Code. Quoting the statements, police said Tuhin’s father brought the boy out of home when he was sleeping. Nasir and Shahriar then slaughtered the child. The duo also cut off Tuhin’s ears, genital and pierced two knives into his abdomen that had two people’s names embedded on its grips.
Another court on Tuesday also granted police three days to interrogate Basir and his two other brothers, Abdul Mosabbir and Jamshed Ali. The confessional statements have also confirmed Mosabbir and Jamshed’s direct involvement in the crime. All five were shown arrested in a murder case that Tuhin’s mother Monira Begum filed at Derai police station on Monday night.
We have also objected to the easy way of collecting evidences through police remand where the persons are interrogated in an atmosphere of intimidation. It is the constitutional requirement that a person should be interrogated by police in the presence of his lawyer. The Supreme Court also had issued similar direction. But that is not likely convenient for the police.
We regret it very much that the police and lower judiciary cannot be trusted as much they should be. We have become a nation of weak morality for standing up to the lies and failing to defend the truth. Such kind of murder – killing of Tuhin by his father and uncle for implicating their opponents — is unbelievable.
We shall urge other social bodies to investigate the matter. Such a terrible story that the father will murder his innocent baby child only for the motive of revenge cannot be true. It is possible the whole story is motivated. It is also possible that the father is mentally unstable.
We do not want our national image as heartless and cruel even in respects of our children. A father can’t kill his baby only to implicate others in a murder case. For reasons of poverty or family disputes murder is possible.
But cold-blooded murder by father of his baby child unprovoked and calmly is impossible. There is something vicious that must be found.
