I used to know a man in his early 30s who was abducted three times by the same people. Each time, he came out of their iron clutches by paying a ransom. The said man came from a remote part of the country to the capital and started working as a subcontractor in civil construction. His earnings from his hard work was good enough to run a happy family of three – him, his wife, and a baby boy. He could even have some savings for his family’s future. But whenever he saved some money, he had to use that to buy his freedom from the abductors. Utterly helpless, he at last left Dhaka with his family for his village home.
When he bought his freedom for the third time after three days of confinement, I asked him: “Do you want to go to the police to report your abduction?”
“No,” he said. I asked why not, and he remained silent. How many abductions in the country go unreported?
Aren’t our law enforcing agencies efficient enough to rein in criminal activities, including abduction, in the country? We have seen in the past that whenever an “unelected and undemocratic” caretaker government came to power, the bulk of the country’s criminals went into hiding to hibernate, and as a consequence, the crime rate fell drastically. And whenever an elected, democratic government came to power, the country again became a sanctuary for criminals and the crime rate spiralled upwards. What a strange relationship between democracy and crime in Bangladesh!
Almost all the “elite” criminals of the country – whether extortionists, land grabbers, illegal sand lifters, or drug peddlers – have political identities. They are either members of a political party, or of its youth or student wing.
Because of their political identities, they are immune to criminal prosecution. In Bangladesh, one does not need to be a youth or student to be a member of the youth or student wing of a political party. In politics, we are setting one glaring example after another for the world.
The godfathers have elevated themselves to the stature of demigods. If, unfortunately, the henchmen of a godfather fall into the net of law enforcers, they invariably remain “untouchable” by the law.
It has now become so common a phenomenon in the country, that when police arrest an “elite” criminal, he is out on bail within a few days and resumes his criminal activities in full swing. Our courts have so few judges and the backlog of criminal cases is so huge, an abductor with some police cases against him can run his lucrative “business” for as long as he wants. And in doing his “business,” he may kill as many abductees as he wants.
In the backdrop of our extremely overburdened judiciary, what is the way out of this unbearable situation? How can we punish the diehard criminals? If a serial killer-abductor is put in a crossfire to save the lives of scores of would-be abductees, that will be an extrajudicial killing, a gross violation of human rights. The wailing faces of his mother, wife, children, and sisters will appear in the newspaper and on the TV screen claiming his innocence.
With the fast-increasing population, the number of criminals and criminal activities in the country is also increasing. On the other hand, criminals are getting more daring day by day due to their invincibility in the hands of the law.
The sooner our top political leaders understand that the “services” of criminals is not indispensable to win elections, the better. Nitish Kumar, the chief minister of Bihar, once the most rowdy state in India, has proved a political party can do better in elections by purging the party of criminals. He became chief minister of Bihar in 2005. After assuming the office of the chief minister, he secured the convictions of more than 60,000 criminals, including three members of parliament, by setting up fast-track courts. His fight against criminals restored the vanishing authority of the state government and made Bihar’s cities safer.
Nitish Kumar became chief minister again by winning the next state elections without any “service” from criminals. His drive against criminals helped his party get more votes in the elections. The combination of security and connectivity, that he also improved, has spurred Bihar’s economy to 11% average annual growth since 2006. Still, Kumar has more to do to clean up his political party.
Our political parties may try Kumar’s way. That will open up new political possibilities for them and the people of the country will be able to live in peace. Our most reverent, patriotic, and caring top political leaders think that criminals are indispensible to run a political party successfully and to win elections. Deprogramming of their erroneous thought process is needed to change the unbearable situation in the country.
