Mob justice is just murder

Even if the vilest allegations were true, lynching them could not have been the answer. It is particularly harrowing that it was university students — that most enlightened and progressive section of people — who were involved in the two murders.
A former Chhatra League activist who had been a leader a few years ago and allegedly attacked student protesters on July 15 on the Jahangirnagar University campus was rescued by the university’s security guards and taken to their office when a group of students beat him up. But angry students raided the security offices and beat him up for a second round in the presence of a proctor and the security personnel. There were also allegations of land grabbing and extortion against this former history graduate. Later, he had to be rescued by the police and the vice chancellor. Shamim Ahmed, the former BCL leader, died in hospital later in the evening.
The Dhaka University incident is even more barbaric. Known to be a vagrant, Tofazzal was a young man supposedly from Barguna, with no known next of kin and was reported not to be in complete control of his mental faculties. But he was not a stranger on campus, as a number of Facebook posts indicate. “A little crazy, but harmless” is the general impression of this man who was alleged of theft and apprehended at a residential hall. Students then proceeded to beat him. They then let this man have supper. His photo is floating around Facebook with this man washing his hands sitting shirtless in the canteen. His eyes don’t indicate the fear that a man might have who is being beaten by craven monsters. His eyes don’t have any hatred either. He looks apathetic, as only a madman can. A caption reads, ‘The Last Supper’.
He was then taken away and beaten some more till his condition deteriorated, which is presumably when the students took him to a hospital where he died. The incident is eerily reminiscent of a BUET incident five years ago when BCL cadres kept a student locked up in a room while they went off to watch a football match, only to return and resume their beating and eventually killing Abrar, a fellow student.
It was heartening to see that both campuses react with protests against these incidents. It would behoove the university authorities to proactively come forward with the utmost cooperation for the police. As for the law enforcement agencies, they had better act swiftly to set an example of these two murders, and it is only out of extreme indulgence that one does not call them “executions”.
Unfortunately, however, the home adviser stopped short with merely expressing his dismay over these two incidents this morning when he should have directed the police to act immediately and expeditiously. The least that could have been expected from him was a stiff warning for mob justice and stern action against it.
Sadly, when one lynching can be said to be more barbaric than another, it can only indicate the level of depravity of some our university students. The same students who were the vanguards of a popular uprising against the absolute reign of a dictatorial government. A lynch mob is no better than a murderous regime — not to Tofazzal, nor Shamim.