Torture of 10-year-old
Every aspect of the story of 10-year-old Sagor, published yesterday by this paper, horrifies. Sagor was accused of stealing Tk. 2000 by some locals. He was beaten by the mob mercilessly, put in a sack, tortured with needles injected into his fingers, denied water when he asked for it – all because the mob was adamant to force a confession from him. This continued for three hours! That no one came forward to save a 10-year-old makes us wonder if abusing children has somehow been normalised in our society.
When he was finally rescued, his family filed a case with the help of journalists. Now, the family has started receiving threats. A certain caller, identifying himself as an information ministry staffer, threatened the family and the journalists who reported on the incident, claiming that not even the police could do anything to his brother, who is one of the accused.
It was a crime to torture a child in the first place, whatever the reasons. Even if he had done something wrong – and we must remember, that there was no evidence or reason to believe he had – there are law enforcement institutions for a reason. It is not for the mob to take the matter into their own hands. Secondly, that Sagor's family is now being threatened shows that powerful influentials are already trying to cover up the incident.
With his leg badly fractured, Sagor is fortunately out of danger. But this could have easily turned into another instance such as that of Rajon or Rakib. The police have made arrests, but they should focus their investigations on who led the mob and who are the ones making threats now. We have the laws; they need implementation. But social awareness is needed to change the idea that it is alright to use physical violence, to administer "justice".
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