Bangladesh has lately seen an escalation in the fatal mass beating incidents that killed 82 people between August 1 and November 30. Between January 1 and June 30, before the July-August mass uprising, 33 people died in mob beatings.
Rights organisation Ain o Salish Kendra that gave the accounts puts the number of the people killed in mob beatings across the country in August at 21. The number rose to 28 in September, a month after the fall of Awami League regime amid a student-led mass uprising on August 5.
In October, at least 19 people were beaten to death, while in November, 14 people died as they fell victims to mob justice, Ain o Salish Kendra report shows.
According to the organisation, 51 people were beaten to death in 2023, 36 in 2022, 28 in 2021, 35 in 2020, and 65 in 2021.
In a latest incident, Rabiul Hossain Rubel, 30, died on Friday after he was fatally injured in a mass beating at Rangunia upazila in Chattogram as local people suspected him as a thief.
His wife Kajali Akter said that her husband was a day labourer, who sometimes worked as a CNG-run auto-rickshaw driver also.
Kajali claimed that her husband was innocent.
鈥楨ven if he was guilty, they could have handed him over to the police. The law could have decided if he was guilty. My days are passing thinking about my six-year-old son鈥檚 future without his father,鈥� she said, demanding justice for her husband.
The wife said that on December 26, Rubel went out with his brother-in-law鈥檚 CNG-run auto rickshaw to get fuel when local people caught him and beat him severely suspecting him as a thief in Islampara area of the upazila. He died next day while undergoing treatment at Chattogram Medical College Hospital.
Legal experts and human rights activists said that the lack of effective response from the government contributed to the escalation of the incidents.
They also stressed deploying sufficient law enforcers and their effective role play in curbing mass beating incidents.
Human rights activist Mohammad Nur Khan Liton told 抖阴精品 on Saturday that the interim government failed to take effective actions on any issues, including lynching incidents.
Liton, also a member of the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearance, observed that law enforcement agencies had yet to get back their morale that had been lost after the July-August uprising.
The law and order situation would not improve until law enforcers regain public trust, which has its inevitable impact on the increasing incidents of mob beating, he observes.
Experts further observe that lack of good governance and accountability of those responsible for bringing the perpetrators to justice are also leading people to take the law in their own hands.
Jahangirnagar University chairman of law department Md Rabiul Islam told 抖阴精品 on Saturday that these incidents must be dealt with strict measures or else the culture of mob justice would take root in society.
鈥楲ynching is connected with the absence of the rule of law, culture of impunity and improper justice system where killers and wrongdoers can evade punishment,鈥� he said.
Police Headquarters鈥� assistant inspector general of police for media and public relations Enamul Haque Sagor said that the force was trying its best to prevent such crimes through increased patrols and check posts across the country.
鈥榃e urge people to hand over the suspects to the police and not to take the law in their own hands. Otherwise they will also have to face punishment for their actions,鈥� he added.
