The arson attack on the family home of Tamim Hawlader, one of the men arrested for the murder of Dhaka University student Shahriar Alam Shammo, is yet another reminder of the mob justice epidemic that has gripped Bangladesh.
While the police have done their job to apprehend suspects, using due process and digital evidence, there is no justification for a mob to descend on Tamim’s home, setting it ablaze and, most importantly, causing great distress to his family -- who themselves stand accused of nothing.
This is not an isolated incident. Over the past year, Bangladesh has witnessed an alarming surge in mob violence. While the aftermath of the collapse of the Awami League government and citizens feeling abandoned by the state are certainly to blame, we simply cannot have mobs taking the law into their own hands, acting as judge, jury, and executioner.
Such acts are not justice. They are murder, arson, and collective punishment, violating the very principles which any just society must rest on. The right to due process is not a privilege for the few, but a safeguard for all.
Every accused person is entitled to a fair trial, legal representation, and protection from retribution -- both from the state and from the mob. Their families, too, must be shielded from collective vengeance. To allow otherwise is to sanction a cycle of violence that corrodes the rule of law and endangers everyone.
It is also disheartening that too often, our law enforcement has failed to protect suspects and their families, or have arrived only after the damage is done.
To allow mob justice to continue is to abandon the promise of a just society. The government must act decisively: Restore institutional legitimacy, protect the rights of all, and ensure that justice is delivered -- not by the mob, but by the courts.
