The remark made by an adviser that mob violence and moral policing will significantly decrease once law and order is fully restored and once people are aware is a redundant remark that only states the obvious. The environment, forest and climate change adviser made the remark at a briefing on March 4 after an advisory council meeting, which discussed the recent spate of mob violence. There is no doubt that mob violence and moral policing will decrease once law and order is restored. Everyone knows it. The government and its advisers need not say what is obvious. They are expected to discharge their duties, intervene and take effective measures to restore law and order. While it is understandable, not acceptable though, that law and order collapsed to an alarming level after the fall of the Awami League regime on August 5, 2024 as there had been no government for a few days and the law enforcement agencies had also been largely inactive, the failure of the interim government to restore law and order seven months into office is inexcusable. There hardly went a day when mob violence and lynching did not make the headlines.
Rights group Ain O Salish Kendra in its monthly update says that at least 112 people were beaten to death in six months since August 2024 and 16 of the incidents were recorded in January alone. In a recent worrying development, a mob attacked two Iranians in the Basundhara residential area in Dhaka on March 4 on suspicion of being members of a drugging gang, two men were beaten to death and four others were injured in a mob attack over robbery suspicion at Satkania in Chattogram on March 3 while a mob raided the house of a former lawmaker at Gulshan in Dhaka around midnight on March 4. Such unabated mob violence and lynching show the failure of the authorities to adequately contain the situation by restoring law and order and ensuring justice in every such incident. A lack of public confidence in the law enforcement agencies, a sense of insecurity, a weak criminal justice system and impunity for the law enforcement agencies are major factors that prompt the public to take the law into their own hands and in the absence of stringent, visible government action in law enforcement, the public appears to be increasingly inclined towards mob violence.
The government, which so well knows that weak law enforcement and lack of awareness are reasons for lawlessness such as mob violence, should immediately address law enforcement issues by tying all loose ends but in keeping with due protocols. As for raising public awareness, the authorities should begin an awareness campaign on state-run media.