We demand justice for the victims

There is no question that the deaths of four civilians in Tangail last Friday were the result of excessive force used by the police. Investigations by this paper have found that there was no instigation to attack the police as claimed by some law enforcing agents. Locals, mostly young people, were peacefully protesting the horrific assaults on a woman and her teenaged son. They were doing what any conscientious citizen is expected to do: protest a gross violation of human rights. But their attempts to get justice for the victims were met by uncalled for violence by the law enforcers.

The dead include the driver of a three-wheeler, the sole breadwinner of the family, a 14-year-old assistant at a barber shop, an 18-year-old HSC student and a young migrant worker who was scheduled to fly to Saudi Arabia after Eid. None of them were even part of the protests but just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It is clear that the police acted with unnecessary brutality and highhandedness. Merely closing some of them is not acceptable. As our National Human Rights Commission chairman has remarked – those responsible must be tried and punished under criminal law for killing people.

Instances of trigger-happy police shooting down civilians at the flimsiest or non-existent pretext are serious blows to the public perception of the law enforcing members. They have further damaged the already unflattering image of the police. It is imperative that the government takes serious measures against such errant policemen and impose a stricter code of conduct on all law enforcers regarding their treatment of civilians. The respect for law must not be compromised by the abuse of power.