***Until and unless we can stop repetition of such grisly crime, every Bangladeshi shall consciously remain guilty of the sexual abuse and murder of Shumi of Shibalaya, Afroza of Tangail, Tania of Dhaka city and many such others that remain unreported. That calls for every man, woman and child in the country to be united as never before: by a collective sense of revulsion.***

THE gruesome murder oi a seven year old girl Shumi in Sibrampur village of

Shibalaya thana in the district of Manikganj after rape on 11th June by one Shukur All (18) has once again shuddered the nation. Even in a country where life is so easily extinguished now-a-days by miscreants, diseases and disasters, there was a feeling of revulsion about the macabre crime committed. To violate a seven year old girl who has yet to know-the meaning of sex is simply barbaric. That morning (of 13th June) when the news broke, a chill ran up the nation’s spine.

About a year ago. the nation learnt with similar trepidation . about the incidence of rape of a ten year old girl in the Taltala bustee of Mirpur section-I in the early part of February. In this case the rapist could not be apprehended. Reports quoting doctors at the DMCH who performed a lengthy operation on Rokeya, daughter of Mumtaz and Amir, a rickshaw puller revealed that the victim's condition was critical with all the internal and external tissues of her body badly damaged. Doctors also confirmed that it was a very brutal incident of rape.

Sadly enough, the grotesque incident of rape in Shibalaya thana was committed in broad day light when the child had gone out to play with her mates at about 9 AM in the morning and the rapist was no stranger to the child in as much as ne was living in the same courtyard of victim's house.

This spurt of violence against children is more than alarming. Nevertheless these sorts of fiendish crimes peroe-trated with increasing frequency have threatened to knock the rock bottom of our civil society. Precisely true, crimes and criminality exist in every society but sexual violation of minors manifests a sort of depravity which unless checked immediately will tear apart the entire social fabric. About two years ago. two such incidents of rape on a six year old girl Tania in the Dhaka Court compound and another on Mousumi of the same age in Sutrapur area provoked violent public outcry. In both the cases actual offenders could not be apprehended or there was

Hardly any vigorous attempt to bring the culprits to book.

Add to this the insecure working condition of the young. women garment workers. People have hardly forgotten the report of some adolescent women employees of a garment factory in the Banani area of the city being allegedly sexually harassed by their employers. Coming back to Sumi's case, the beastly act done, the poor vic-tlm was put to death when She tried to resist the violation. But the resentment generated in the conscious citizenry and the outrage stoked are far from ebbing even after days of the incident. Even as conscious citizenry hang their head in shame, a nation with the slightest of human virtues still alive must go numb with shock and trepidation, Sure enough, these sorts of depravity belong to the inventory of black deeds. True, not even the harshest words could measure up the indignation felt in the length and breadth of the country. It is as if we all have had a personal bereavement. What is further disturbing is that such "novel" crimes have a tendency to catch on. Those acts with such alarming frequency prove that a sizeable section of society is being fast criminalised.

The question one tends to ask. "what ails our society"? Why such criminal and murderous instincts are increasingly getting the better of self-restraint. ethics, religious virtues that are heard aplenty these days? If some deep-rooted psychological factor is interfering with decent living and societal balance, it should be diagnosed and the cause identified. Something seems to have gone awfully wrong with our society leading to ever increasing instances of depraved behaviour. It is not very unnatural in out country that every time such dastardly acts of sexual abuse on minors, often leading to death, takes place, people are naturally outraged and loud protests are voiced by all, especially by the human rights activists. But, as it often happens, when the alleged offenders go away with impunity, the perpetrators of crime feel emboldened to commit crimes of greater enormity.

And not infrequently the

law enforcers' reluctance and indifferent attitude to tackle such crime, since it relates to children, and is not taken up as an adult problem, makes situation worse. In many cases, as it has been observed after a review of the past records, the policemen themselves are to blame. If the present rate of criminalisa-tion of the whole society including the police personnel meant to curb crime go unabated, every democratic norm and value will be thrown to the wind.

All segments of the society as a whole must try to root out the fast spreading cancer threatening to unsettle the very foundations of morality. Some human rights groups and women activists are voicing their protests and indignations the moment reports of any such violence is published in the newspaper, out unfortunately the policy makers and law makers do not seem to have been seriously perturbed. Rather they are locked in a duel of words in the Parliament undermining each other, digging the past of the leaders and bringing in issues not related to burning problems like the development efforts, deteriorating law and order situation and escalating occurrence of crime. Without contradiction, security of children comes as the most essential part of ushering the growth of a democratic and healthy society and should be considered sine qua non to any civilised order and must be guaranteed by the state. Protecting them from abuse and violence is the first prerogative to good governance, peace and sta-ility in the country.

Sexual abuse hurts children both physically and psychologically and the violence becomes doubly repulsive when the victim is a minor. When such violence keeps on occurring and as such poses to become a norm of the society, one is led to think that apart from Individual aberrations, a lot of other things are wrong with the society and the social culture that make inroads to such perverse propensity. People are led to believe that the increasing drug crime nexus in the urban shanties and criminal underworld is exacting its toll. It may be that due to social conflict and unrest, some individuals

are being fast dehumanised. The other cause: the pressure of population and unwholesome living condition are making some people insensate to all tenderness and human values to the point that animal lust is Sttlng the better of inhibitions ey had inherited. Nevertheless, instances where judiciary has stepped in to amend a blatantly discriminating sexist law are no where to be seen. Also there are gaping holes in the legal system itself. On the otherhand, many of the rapes committed either on young or adult women and murders either in the city or rural areas had a lot to do with the presence of musclemen trying to establish their unfettered domain everywhere.

And that makes us shudder with shock and trepidation to see how innocent people are suffering owing to a malignant social growth — the emergence of musclemen almost in every locality. Their sphere of activities is expanding day by day as people scared of retaliation prefer to remain silent. That means a vast populace of the country are hostage to these evil forces, since the law enforcers have so far failed to make a dent in the crime situation. The fact that gangsters derive their strength and operational inroads from “ and dominate the scene under the protective umbrella of their godfathers has only made the situation worse. But the hard truth is that lawlessness is sure to cost this society dearly in the long run. No amateurish effort to dislodge the professional criminals can succeed unless all parties in the country agree to unleash an attack with an intention to rein in the mastans. hoodlums, rapists and looters^ Wlthbut feaf or fat'd Iff.

Until and unless we can stop repetition of such grisly crime, every Bangladeshi shall consciously remain guilty of the Sexual abuse and murder of Shumi of Shibalaya. Afroza of Tangail, Tania of Dhaka city and many such others that remain unreported. That calls for every man. woman and child in the country to be united as never before: by a collective sense of revulsion. The country and its legal machinery must not betray the hapless victims.