Utpal's return is a relief

We can only imagine the relief Utpal's mother must have felt when she got a call from her son 10 minutes after midnight last night that he was safe in Narayanganj and would be coming home soon. Utpal is an online journalist with a news portal who disappeared mysteriously in October, an incident that galvanised support for him on social media. The journalist has stated that he was initially mistreated and his abductors kept asking him for money. The young man was taken against his will by some people and kept in captivity for more than two months but again it is unclear why he was kept for so long and why he was released if the object was to realise ransom.  People have been disappearing in the country, especially the capital city with increasing frequency with no guarantee that they will ever come back.

Precisely what are people supposed to do when a loved one goes missing without a trace? Can we even begin to comprehend the mental stress family members experience in such a situation? According to the news report Utpal was dropped off by a microbus. Are the law enforcement agencies at all curious about to whom this vehicle belongs to or who the abductors are? The nonchalant behaviour of some law enforcers does little to instil public confidence in these agencies. In fact this silence on the part of the law enforcement agencies only serve to raise suspicion in the public mind. We have written many times before that it is high time the authorities launch a thorough investigation into this matter and find out who or what syndicate is carrying out these disappearances and why they are not being caught.