Return of mugging in Dhaka, other areas

The menace of mugging, by all available indicators, has staged a comeback in the capital, after a considerable period of lull. To the trepidation of the city residents, the fresh mugging onslaught is not limited to the earlier notorious crime points; they are also occurring in many well-known secure and crime-free areas. The mugging scourge this time around, as the reports in the media suggest, has returned with vengeance.  The death of a 5-month-old baby caused by fall from his rickshaw-travelling mother's lap as muggers tried to snatch her purse is heart-wrenching. The incident occurred in the city on Monday. Similarly, the death of a physician a week earlier caused by fall from his rickshaw while being mugged is another case in point. The doctor fell on the ground from his rickshaw as two speeding motorcycle-riding youths snatched the bag strapped to his shoulders. The muggers fled with the laptop inside the bag. The doctor later died at a hospital while undergoing treatment for severe head injuries.

In the context of the pattern of Dhaka's mugging incidents, motorbike-using criminals snatching unsuspecting rickshaw passengers' valuables are an old spectacle. In these cases, it is the young women who become victims with the muggers snatching ornaments from their necks and ears. Equipped with weapons like sophisticated revolvers, these criminals are now more ruthless and ferocious than in the past. While engaged in the act, they bother little about human lives. In many cases, resistance has been seen leading to tragic deaths.

The vicious return of the mugging menace has, obviously, filled the city residents with a fresh spell of worries, not to speak of a creeping feeling of insecurity. The muggers' movement and swoop on pedestrians in the newer areas add distressingly to the situation's dread. Scores of both old and fresh areas have lately been found to be the havens of these criminals. In reality, except the busy roads in the commercial districts, few roads and alleyways in Dhaka can be called free of muggers. In an alarming twist in the reemerging scourge, mugging has started spoiling the public peace and security of the country's other big cities as well. In this regard, Chittagong appears to be the worst hit. Signalling worse times ahead, suburban areas are also found plagued with the menace.

To just say that the rising intensity of mugging in Dhaka and elsewhere is filled with ominous prospects is undermining the situation. On the part of both the authorities concerned and the civil society, this observation points to a blasé attitude. In its virtually headlong plunge, the scourge goes on showing another highly disturbing development. The frequency of mugging by criminals in the guise of specialised plainclothesmen now turns out to be a virtual nightmare for the vulnerable sections of the people. To say that it portends the slow raising of a subdued monster's head is also understatement. Given this murky turn of the situation, strong law and order is the only option. It ought to be reinforced by foolproof surveillance in the form of constant patrol and increase in the number of checkpoints. At the same time, stringent laws having provisions for exemplary punishment for the criminals who have resumed mugging after serving time are also an imperative.