Once considered unthinkable here, the murder of children has become increasingly commonplace in Bangladesh.
In just the first two months of this year, 49 children were murdered. Over the last four years, 1,084 children were murdered, according to data from the Bangladesh Shishu Adhikar Forum (BSAF).
What is driving Bangladeshis to murder children?
The experts are not entirely sure.
They point to a number of causes – a rapidly changing society, cold ambition, the inadequate punishment of offenders and the impact of television and the internet – to explain the phenomenon.
But none of these trends fully explains the sudden rise in violence against minors.
Nor do they explain filicide – the murder of a child by its parents – that has become the leading theory in the investigation into the deaths of two young siblings in Dhaka’s Banasree neighbourhood.
Experts said parents’ extramarital affairs sometimes drive them to kill their own offspring as a way of severing ties to a failed marriage.
Mohammad Ashraful Alam, chairman of the criminology and police sciences department at Maulana Bhashani Science and Technology University, told the Dhaka Tribune that child murders fall into two categories – murders where near relatives are involved and those committed by outsiders.
“Within the family, rising wants, economic aspirations and long absences of a spouse for work can cause a breakdown in a marriage. When one parent then looks for a way out, social expectations tied to the family are often seen as a barrier, and the children are representatives of that barrier.
“Slaying the offspring then appears to the perpetrators as the key to exiting the marriage,” Ashraf said.
“In the second type of murder – unemployment is a major driver of crimes against children. A large number of young adults are unemployed, frustrated and see kidnapping and ransom as an easy way to make money. A fear of exposure frequently causes kidnappers to kill their young hostages,” Ashraf added.
Professor Dr Shah Ehsan Habib of Dhaka University’s sociology department, agreed that the rise in the gap between real life and expectations correlates with a rise in crime.
Frustrated aspirations can lead to violent crime and minors are easy prey, he said.
Psychologist Dr Mohit Kamal attributed the rise in child murders to a “loss of moral excellence and a cruel attitude” in society.
But BSAF Director AS Mahmood said the absence of proper investigation and trial procedures has created a culture of impunity and that this is at least as much to blame as any other reason.
According to BSAF, over 500 child killing cases from the last four years are still pending investigation.
Dr HM Kamruzzaman, deputy commissioner of police (Prosecution), said the absence of witnesses was the major problem in such cases.
Procedural delays, a lack of eyewitnesses and weak investigations contribute to the backlog of cases, sources connected to child rights said. Moreover, a majority of plaintiffs cannot afford lengthy legal proceedings, they added.
State Minister for Women and Children Affairs Meher Afroze Chumki told the Dhaka Tribune that financial and social support is provided in cases in which the victims are children.
Plaintiffs sometimes settle the case out of court, but the government is working to try and punish perpetrators, she added.
Home Minster Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said directives to improve the investigation process had been given in order to secure convictions and ensure that perpetrators are punished.
