Since Sunday morning, a couple of videos surrounding an incident near College Gate in Mohammadpur, Dhaka have been circulating on Facebook.
Users who posted the videos claim to have witnessed a woman struggling against two men inside a car around 1:30am Saturday night. When concerned people nearby approached the car, the driver looked as if he was trying to escape. Clearly their senses eluded them in the heat of the moment, because nobody in their right mind would try to make a getaway in the notorious traffic of Dhaka.
People pulled the woman out of the car, as well as the men who were allegedly sexually assaulting her.
The angry mob drags one of the alleged attackers out of the car Screenshot
Things quickly escalated afterwards.
The cluster of people quickly turned into an angry mob; they promptly stripped the alleged rapist and his driver and proceeded to land as many hits as they could manage. The glee and the bloodlust of the mob were palpable as they proceeded to denigrate and humiliate the two as much as possible.
Mob justice is no way an act we can condone, but it seems the public and the netizens of Bangladesh cannot help but feel a little vindicated at the thought of the alleged rapist being publicly humiliated.
The righteous might of the vigilantes compel the traffic police to step back as things continue to unfold Screenshot
The man was later identified as Rony Haque and his driver as Faruq. His Facebook photos show him as a happily married man with children. Like most people, he likes iftar parties with family and vacationing with friends.
Of course, many people are commenting on Facebook saying how unlikely it is for a man like that to be involved in such an incident. At the same time, many people have proceeded to thoroughly lambast him on every single one of his public posts on Facebook. The hatred and wrath is laid bare on his wall.
Rony was taken into custody by Sher-e-Bangla Nagar police.
According to Inspector AK Azad, two young women were waiting outside the Bangladesh Betar office in Agargaon. They received a lift to Farmgate from Rony. One sat in front next to the driver, and the other sat in the backseat with Rony. During the trip, the driver began to grope his erstwhile passenger. She shrieked and wrenched the door open at the Shyamoli intersection.
The other young woman was still in the car, but the traffic forced them to slow down at College Gate. After the beatdown at the hands of the mob, Rony was handed to the police, but Faruq escaped. A case was filed against both of them on Sunday afternoon.
Rony claimed the two young women were prostitutes he had hired. But when the police tracked them down and interrogated them, they said they had made no such deal with Rony.
