Students punishing auto-rickshaw drivers

Granted, CNG drivers' refusal of service to passengers on demand or their charging arbitrary fares are genuine public irritations. Also one sees their taking advantage of an extremely inadequate public transportation system, which is a curse we feel strongly about. These are all reprehensible.
Having said that, we are really pained to see a photo carried in the front page of The Daily Star's Sunday issue where a number of Dhaka University students are seen forcing some auto-rickshaw drivers to stand one-legged with their hands holding their ears -- an utterly humiliating sight. And that too at the feet of Santrash Birodhi Raju sculpture work. Strangely, their act itself reflected some form of terrorization that neither synchronized with theenviron nor behooved their status as students of the highest seat of learning.
They shouldn't have taken law into their own hands; instead what would have been proper for them would be to take the offenders to the police or even hold a protest rally to press home a public interest issue to transport authorities. They are not expected to be like public vigilantes going about punishing lawbreakers because in doing so they are pushing themselves to the level of those they were punishing.
When students do so they cannot be oblivious to the demonstrative effect of their action. Taking the cue from them, youths in various parts of the city may go on a spree of delivering public justice. Imagine the resulting lawlessness if this was to happen. So the students behave a sense of responsibility and positive civic sense.
It is time transport authorities, owners and drivers sat up and took note of the incident and enforce all the rules in the book to relieve commuters of the vicious grip of abuses committed by CNG drivers and other transport operators.