Blurry pictures and bounty promises

After more than a month the police have suddenly released blurry photos of eight assaulters of the Pahela Baishakh sexual attacks of women and one minor, from CCTV footage. They have announced generous cash awards of Tk 1 lakh for information on each of the assaulters.

We cannot help but wonder why it took so many days for the police to scan the CCTV footage to finally come up with these obscure photos which, eye witnesses, consider do not include many of the other culprits. In any case the poor quality of the photos will make it very hard for anyone to identify the criminals. It is also hard not to forget the claims of the police firstly, that the incidents did not take place, secondly that the CCTV footage did not show anything significant.

And now after 34 days since that shameful attack, images of the attackers are being displayed and the police force, the members of which did not do anything to help the victims on April 14, are offering prizes to the public to help them do their job. Two of the culprits had been caught and handed over to the police, only to be released two hours later.

Whether it is inefficiency, apathy or just plain chauvinism of the law enforcement agents, it is clear that the authorities have been lacklustre in their probe of one of the worst incidents of sexual harassment in a public place. It is about time they carried out this investigation sincerely and objectively.