What he could not do when he was alive is being done now that he is no more. Here is a 45-year old man named Hazrat Ali from village Karna Para in Shripur, Gazipur, who could register a protest in a manner not many dare not do. He did so not only at the cost of his own life but also at the sacrifice of his adopted daughter's. The father and daughter jumped together before a running train near Shripur railway station in protest against the indifference shown to the complaint of attempted rape of the eight-year old girl by a culprit of the same locality.Â
When a union parishad member even did not allow Hazrat Ali to lodge a complaint, the latter's susceptible mind got terribly hurt. The man could not take in the ignominy any more because as a poor person he was well aware that what was so serious a matter has either been trivialised or failed to convince the local representative of the occurrence and the gravity of the matter.
People with an extra-susceptible mind are a misfit in a shark-infested coarse society. A man of as low a stature as that of Hazrat Ali particularly runs the risk of being savaged by influential quarters with an ulterior motive. In this case, this childless poor couple adopted a daughter from a beggar. Now the widow of the deceased complains that it was their land that some neighbours wanted to grab. The eight-year girl was picked up by a man who had married twice before but both wives left him within a year or so.Â
If the mother of the adopted girl is right, those planning to grab the childless couple's land may have targeted the girl. It was she who were to be a thorn on their way to completing their land grabbing mission. So the man could be used for elimination of the future inheritor. The girl escaped the attempted violation but not the humiliation and the psychological trauma. Her father thought justice would be carried out if he complained of the insidious act. Instead, he was not even given a patient hearing. Â Â Â Â
Not only did he feel offended, but also inferred that in such a society, there is not the remotest possibility of getting justice for hapless men like him. Lack of justice, as Kazi Reazul Hoque, Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Bangladesh observes, is to blame for the father-daughter 'suicide'. True, to many, Hazrat Ali's was an overreaction. This society is increasingly failing to appreciate the simple and innocent souls who are not calculative enough in making their next moves.Â
Most likely the childless man loved his adopted daughter as much as his own or even more. It is because of his fatherly concern for her well-being he took the ultimate decision in favour of bringing an end to their lives together so that no predator can dishonour his child. Or else, he alone would have ended his life under the wheels of a running train. The daughter's filial love may be assumed to have been equally reciprocating. It is this father-daughter bond that has prompted them to escape the vultures ready to feast on the weak and the vulnerable.Â
Simple men like Hazrat Ali and innocent souls like Ayeshah, his daughter, could not adapt with the intrigues and aggressiveness of a world full of odious people. They, however, delivered a slap on the cheek of this society or perhaps of human civilisation claiming to have reached an enviably higher stage. They have pointed out through their sacrifice what havoc the culture of the lack of rule of law or justice wreaks now. Â Â Â
Protest against culture of lack of justice
Neil Ray | Published: May 07, 2017 19:48:43 | Updated: October 22, 2017 13:43:31
Protest against culture of lack of justice
Share if you like