The whole country is in a state of shock over the violation and savage killing of seven-year-old Ramisa by a neighbour. All across the social spectrum, the demand is for swift justice, which has been promised by the highest authority of the nation.
However, the horrific end of a child, not the first one, compels us to confront several social aberrations which have insidiously crept into our social layers.
The alleged criminal in question, a married man who reportedly also has a child, is in police custody, awaiting trial.
Deconstructing the deviant mind
At this moment, the culprit must be assessed and analyzed by several psychiatrists because it needs to be established what motivated him to do what he did.
The perpetrator has confessed to rape and murder, but we need to clearly establish why, as an adult who is married, he was driven to violate a child.
Did he always harbour deviant sexual proclivities? If yes, then it has to be ascertained what triggered the desire in him to commit such an act. His wife, who is also believed to be in police custody, ought to be questioned too to find out if her husband had ever shown certain tendencies.
As we are all aware, this abominable killing is not an isolated one. According to reports, from September 2024 till April of this year, 643 children were victims of abuse sexual violence and torture.
This number paints a disquieting picture of a social space where children are being targeted.
If we recall, just over a week ago, a child died when air was pumped into his belly. Reportedly, the perpetrator pumped air into the child’s rectum as a joke.
In this vast city, the abuse of underage domestic workers is a common phenomenon, with the last publicized one in February, when a former Bangladesh Biman official and his wife were detained over the unspeakable treatment of an 11- year-old domestic help.
In almost all cases where the victims are underage, thorough psychological assessment of the perpetrators involving several experts are essential because this scourge cannot be addressed properly unless we learn what drives the beast within to overshadow the senses.
Suppressed sexuality is one of the characteristics of our society where the mere word “sex” is associated with something sinful, and physical intimacy deemed by many as just an act to procreate and not to relax and enjoy. The fact that sexual urge is the most powerful of all human impulses immediately after hunger is rarely discussed.
In our hypocrisy to project a very chaste social fabric, physical intimacy, especially before marriage, is frowned upon. Since no one is talking openly about sexuality, a vast grey area with deep dark shades develop to cloud and influence the human senses.
These murky areas work as incubators for deviant thoughts, observes Faizul Bari, a social observer. But I also feel, in investigating/deconstructing the vicious death of Ramisa, the law needs to look at possible drug connections, adds Faizul.
The meth-based Yaba, which instils a feeling of invincibility/cruelty, is often the reason behind the rise of so many vicious acts of violence, feels Shahnoor Karim, a former journalist.
In the 70s, 80s, and till the mid-90s when, arguably, we were more conventional or orthodox in our thoughts and actions, there were two major government approved red light areas in Dhaka’s English Road and Taan Bazaar in Narayanganj.
These had been in place since the period before liberation and the sole purpose was to provide sexual relief. A red-light area is primarily to maintain social harmony and order. Whether we want to admit it or not, since the beginning of time, every civilization has had brothels.
Over time, we have become more clandestine in talking about the need for such establishments, pushing the debate for a red-light area into taboo territory. Both Taan Bazaar and English road brothels were dismantled on the flimsy pretext of safeguarding moral values.
As a result, sex workers did not go back to normal life and neither did society avert gradual moral degradation, as rationalized by those who vociferously endorsed the idea of demolishing the brothels. Sex workers became floating, vulnerable to even more abuse, disease and exploitation.
From time to time, we see video clips on social media about police, aided by some overzealous TV channels, raiding residential hotels to detain a large number of young girls.
“Anti-social” activity is the term used with gusto, meaning ‘oshamajik’ in Bangla. Interestingly, the law enforcers never raid five-star establishments which also reportedly house high-end escorts involved in that same ‘oshamajik karjokolap.’
It appears only people belonging to the low-income group are barred from craving physical relief. An Oscar Wilde quote comes to mind: “The poor can afford nothing but self-denial; beautiful sins, like beautiful things, are the privilege of the rich.”
Let’s be blunt, while on one side, we adopt a puritanical stance in discussing sex, on the other, all forms of entertainment are generously laced with sexual titillation.
Understandably, there is repressed sexual desire and urging people to just abide by social norms and religious code is like telling a cat to stop scratching its tails. Empty rhetoric about morality never worked.
Licensed red light areas will be a positive step, remarks Zahirul Islam, a journalist for Daily Observer, adding: “While this will be regulated by the government with the support of the ministry of social welfare, sex workers will have a permanent address which will guarantee safety, regular health checks, and safeguarding them from exploitation.”
“Ramisa’s tragic end shatters our hearts but as we prepare to follow a swift legal course to deal with the crime, deliberations are essential to address sexuality in all its complex dimensions. It’s time we spoke openly about the need to have licensed brothels,” asserts Sharmin, an NGO worker.
In his heart wrenching Facebook post, Mahfuz Mishu, a senior journalist for leading TV channel Jamuna admits: “In our middle-class selfishness to preserve ourselves from evil, we tend to ignore most human hardships, tribulations to conveniently look the other way. But such was the death of Ramisa that even that self-centred mind wants to rise up in protest.”
Mahfuz Misu exhorts us and also the media industry to not forget everything in the excitement of Eid, only a week away. Let civic mourning sustain.
Morality should be discussed in view of the realities, no matter how unsavoury they may appear and not be dictated by impractical notions.
We hope Ramisa’s cruel death will compel us to move away from platitudes, keeping in mind what acclaimed English philosopher late Bertrand Russell once said: “We have in fact, two kinds of morality, side by side: One which we preach, but do not practice, and another which we practice, but seldom preach.”
Towheed Feroze is a former journalist. Views expressed are the writer’s own.