Eroding trust in the justice system and law enforcement agencies and continued extra-judicial killings with impunity drive people into violence and taking laws in their hands, say experts.
After Monday's lynching of six students at Savar, New Age approached a psychologist, a
jurist, a rights activist and a former police chief who said such incidents indicated lawlessness in the country.
Incidents lynching and their ferocity are increasingly causing concern among psychologists, sociologists and rights activists. According to Odhikar's statistics, 75 people were lynched across the country between January and June this year. The organisation had also recorded 126 such incidents in January-September 2010.
Dhaka University psychology professor Nasrin Wadud said the growing incidents of lynching by mobs merely on suspicion proved the theory that frustration leads to aggression.
'People have lost their trust in the justice system and law enforcement process which drives them into taking law in their own hand and perform the justice they want to see instead of handing the suspects over to police,' she said.
'There are incidents that people catch an offender and hand them over to police only to see that the suspect come out free through legal loopholes,' she said. 'If you cannot make people feel secure, if they lose faith in the justice system, such incidents of lynching by mobs will take place,' she said.
Jurist Sara Hossain said, 'Continued extrajudicial killings by police and RAB with impunity one of the reasons that the people are inspired to commit similar crimes.'
Former inspector general of police M Shahjahan said the article 32 of the constitution guaranties a citizen's right to life. Taking one's life on mere suspicion could in no way be justified, he said.
He lamented that such acts of violence were often attributed to weak criminal justice system and called for thorough investigation of each incident of lynching and action accordingly.
'Lynching has to be treated as a criminal offence and there is no scope to go lax. If there are loopholes in the criminal justice system, it should be addressed immediately. But lynching cannot be overlooked,' he said.
Rights group Odhikar secretary, Adilur Rahman Khan, called for a total structural change in the criminal justice system and police administration to curb such incidents.
'If police are used on political purposes and people are denied justice, such incidents will continue to happen,' he said.
Source : New Age
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