What mob lynching tells us
Recently, we have seen a series of mob beatings that, in some cases, have led to the loss of innocent lives. But why are we seeing people behave like this?
One reason is that people have lost faith in our justice system. And who can blame them? After all, how often have we seen the rich and powerful abuse the justice system? When the justice system is used to commit or maintain societal injustice, society disintegrates in many ways. This is just one example of that, and we have seen similar things happening throughout history.
What is especially sad is that we seem to have forgotten about this as a country.
On the other hand, when people regularly see the government arbitrarily resorting to the use of force, they grow accustomed to the idea that using force, when one sees fit, is justified. Let’s assume for a second that the victims of the recent mob beatings were guilty, should that justify beating them to death? No. Then why is it that people seem to believe otherwise? It is because they have seen such use of force, primarily by the government, including at times when it had no moral right to use force. We must recognise and address these problems in order to bring an end to this cycle of violence.
Khondker Hossain, Gulshan
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