Security risks in the courtroom
The very realities on the ground unfortunately give us all possible indications that we are fast heading towards a total crisis of values and ethics
Sakib Hasan
Courtrooms of Bangladesh are no longer a safe zone in Bangladesh. The stabbing to death incident only recently in the courtroom of Cumilla additional judge 3 Fatema Ferdous during court proceedings once again jolted the whole nation back to the shockingly vulnerable security situation on the ground. The incident took place at a time when the people of Bangladesh are still reeling from the shock of Rifats outrageously heinous murder in the broad day light at Barguna. When the incidents of raping and raping plus killing of minor girls are almost everyday becoming the headlines of the newspapers and social network, the stabbing to death incident in the live courtroom has to be taken as a matter of serious concern.
Even in a country of zero security coverage, courtrooms and safe custodies are thought to be the safe zones since these exclusive places are specially kept under high security arrangements. The state undertakes special security measures for ensuring the safety for the insiders as well as the inmates of these promised safe precincts. This is not the first ever incident of killing in the courts of Bangladesh. During the months of October and November back in 2005, synchronized bomb attacks were carried out on the court premises of Chandpur, Lakhsmipur, Chittagong and Jhalkathi killing two judges and several innocent civilians. However, those bombing incidents were planned sabotage perpetrated by the suicide squads of a militant group.
The incident of courtroom killing in Cumilla is neither a planned subversive activity of any extremist group nor is it a phenomenon of law enforcing agencies absence in these security sensitive places. Rather, it is more likely a non-conforming mindset of the people towards the existing laws and order of the country. This is not at all an overnight outcome of a system. In fact, this type of morbid syndrome develops in the very subconscious state of minds of the people when criminals go either unpunished or are punished loosely punished over the years. When people see that murdering or killing people is quite a manageable matter if they own money and political clout, it leaves for them a negative message which eventually gives rise to a sort of mental unrest among the people.
From psychological point of view, protracted mental unrest brings about destructions. Amid a culture of non-sentencing of the murderers and killers even though there are sufficient proofs and evidences, the potential assassins and criminals get emboldened subconsciously. Soon these passive criminals gradually become active when they see the power of money and influence around them. In course of time these subconscious criminals surface in their full form and fashion carrying out such dare-devil actions that simply go far beyond our imagination. Respect and obedience towards law and order must come from the fear of being punished for committing any crime of whatever degree. When the people see with their eyes that the real culprits are justifiably punished for their crimes, the criminal propensities of most of the would-be criminals gradually weaken to die and they ultimately become law-abiding citizens.
Even if we take the Cumilla incident as a stray and isolated incident, still there is hardly any cogent logic of taking the series of murder and rape incidents across the country to be isolated ones. In all considerations, these incidents are manifestations of the mental unrest and perversions arising out of the culture of non-deliverance of justice.
For bringing down the alarming crime rate especially gruesome murders and minor rapes to a tolerable level, it is all the more important to ensure the rule of law first. The course of law must not be either compromised or diluted in any situation whatsoever. In dealing with the open and daylight murders and rapes especially the rape of the minor girls, strict provisions of law have to be formulated without any further delay. Whatever may be the situations, it has to be established that all people are equal in the eye of law. When people will be discriminated by the varied applications of the same law, a strong sense of disaffection and grievances will naturally crop up in the minds of the people which may eventually result in the snapping of the moral fabrics of the society.
The very realities on the ground unfortunately give us all possible indications that we are fast heading towards a total crisis of values and ethics. The culture of indemnity that has been created over the years is actually very difficult to dismantle. We have to launch the process of building the just and fair society, we must start ground work by meting out quick exemplary punishments to the desperado killers and rapists immediately after the occurrence of the crimes. Cross-firing is an off-stage punishment process which does not create immense panic among the latent criminals. Instead, if the killers and rapists are put under quick fair trial and are hanged in the open square or stadium, it will drastically curb the galloping crime rate of Bangladesh. It is true that seeing is believing and the killing process and rituals have to be displayed before the viewing public and only this can work as the most effective deterrent at the moment.
The writeris a contributor
to The Independent.
E-mail:[email protected]
