Social activism needed against lynching

The simmering rage of the masses against a wide variety of social ills is often manifested into violent acts of vigilante justice which results in the death of alleged criminals. In such an event, three cow thieves were beaten to death in a village in Jashore recently. Reportedly, the stealing of the domestic animals was related to the villagers by the speakers of the local mosque. The villagers later caught the rustlers and beat them mercilessly.

   This type of mob justice leaves us stunned and profoundly worried. There are several failures here: first is that of the person who informed the people of the thieves, using the village mosque’s loudspeaker. The person who sent out the warning works at the mosque and should have asked the masses to exercise restraint in dealing with the three persons.

   However, there is a deeper social affliction here – a sense of underlying rage which the general people seem to carry. This often erupts in uncontrollable violence. Lynching has seen several deaths in the capital last year and shockingly, in some cases, the mob was driven to violence swayed by a swirling rumour about child abduction.

This is where we face the second shortcoming: the tendency to believe everything we read on social media and act on them without proper verification. Last year, a woman was killed in this manner when she was mistaken as a child abductor.

The third failure is that of the police plus judiciary in providing the right punishment for robbery, burglary, hijacking and other civil offences. Time and again, culprits have come out in the open due to legal loopholes and often by bribing the law enforcers. Therefore, the belief that it’s better to take law on our own hands has become entrenched. The reason why mobs beating culprits do not know where to stop is due to an erosion of trust on the police plus the development of a savage nature fuelled by so much violence all around us. In Bangladesh, a person being beaten is rarely saved by others; instead, more people, with no link to an incident, also join in to beat up an alleged criminal without any second thought. To address such behaviour, widespread social activism is needed starting from schools.

Children often see parents resorting to violence when punishing domestic helps for a mistake, which perpetuates the vicious culture on to the larger social canvas.

 

Social activism needed against lynching

The simmering rage of the masses against a wide variety of social ills is often manifested into violent acts of vigilante justice which results in the death of alleged criminals. In such an event, three cow thieves were beaten to death in a village in Jashore recently. Reportedly, the stealing of the domestic animals was related to the villagers by the speakers of the local mosque. The villagers later caught the rustlers and beat them mercilessly. This type of mob justice leaves us stunned and profoundly worried. There are several failures here: first is that of the person who informed the people of the thieves, using the village mosques loudspeaker. The person who sent out the warning works at the mosque and should have asked the masses to exercise restraint in dealing with the three persons. However, there is a deeper social affliction here a sense of underlying rage which the general people seem to carry. This often erupts in uncontrollable violence. Lynching has seen several deaths in the capital last year and shockingly, in some cases, the mob was driven to violence swayed by a swirling rumour about child abduction. This is where we face the second shortcoming: the tendency to believe everything we read on social media and act on them without proper verification. Last year, a woman was killed in this manner when she was mistaken as a child abductor. The third failure is that of the police plus judiciary in providing the right punishment for robbery, burglary, hijacking and other civil offences. Time and again, culprits have come out in the open due to legal loopholes and often by bribing the law enforcers. Therefore, the belief that its better to take law on our own hands has become entrenched. The reason why mobs beating culprits do not know where to stop is due to an erosion of trust on the police plus the development of a savage nature fuelled by so much violence all around us. In Bangladesh, a person being beaten is rarely saved by others; instead, more people, with no link to an incident, also join in to beat up an alleged criminal without any second thought. To address such behaviour, widespread social activism is needed starting from schools. Children often see parents resorting to violence when punishing domestic helps for a mistake, which perpetuates the vicious culture on to the larger social canvas.