A society off its rocker

Syed Fattahul Alim | Published: January 26, 2026 21:06:32

Reports of gruesome murder over political rivalries, turf wars among armed groups, or even family conflicts grab headlines from time to time. To ordinary people, the very report of killing one person by another is something shocking. But nowadays, it appears, even accidental killers, let alone the professional ones, are trying to overcome their boredom by bumping someone off they consider risky, or an existential threat, not with a single gunshot or the strike of a knife. Rather they are now prone to adopt a more detailed procedure to commit an act of homicide! Which is why, we come across reports of murder where the body of the victim is cut into many pieces and dumped into safety tanks, sewers, canals or in any place where the killer (s) think they can safely hide the evidences of the murder from public glare. But what defies common sense is why the killers take great pains to go through the macabre ritual of dismembering the victim's body. Just to think of the mindlessness of the person who is capable of doing that! Consider the recent report of a woman in Chattogram, who is a mother of four, allegedly killed a man who, it is suspected, had illicit relationship with the murderer (the woman). The police of Bayezid Bostami station in Chattogram said they arrested Sufia Akter (39) of Pathanpara area in Shahid Nagar in connection with the murder. The woman, as the allegation goes, called the man, Mohammad Anis (38), reportedly a butcher by profession, to her house. She then, as alleged, killed the man by hitting his head with a grinding stone. Later, with the help of others who abetted her in the murder, tried to erase the evidences of the crime. Police suspect her accomplices in the murder were her son and son-in-law. Bayezid Bostami Police reportedly recovered different parts of the victim's body from canals and surrounding areas of Shahid Nagar and Loharpool under Bayezid Bostami police station.
The murder incident reportedly took place on January 20 and the woman was arrested on January 22. During interrogation, she is reported to have confessed to the murder. In another case that happened in July 2025, a man named Sumon at Roufabad in Chattogram killed his wife, Fatema, in a gruesome fashion and tried to destroy any trace of the violent crime. In this case, too, the savagery committed was indescribable. The killer, who was on the run, was later arrested on July 11 last year. These are instances of homicide where the perpetrators display all the ill feelings and hatred they nurture in their hearts about another human being. The question is, why are these otherwise normal people could become so violent and remorseless? What is of greater concern is that the number of such murders and the attendant abominable post-murder activities to suppress the traces of such crime is increasing by the day. Are people becoming crueller than before? Has the modern-day social media and the unfiltered images of violence involving grievous crimes flashing across the computer or smartphone screens of the unsuspecting or willful viewers benumbing their sensitivities? Social psychologists may have an answer. Or is it the symptom of a society whose values are eroding due to the prevailing entrenched culture of corruption and impunity? Or is it that the all-engulfing greed of the ruling class for money and absolute power by any means is giving might precedence over right and, in consequence, society is becoming brutalized? Social psychologists may have an answer to the question. But more than just analysis, the need of the hour is to reverse this rising tide of violence and insanity taking a grip on society. Will the youths of July fame again come forward to turn the tide?

sfalim.ds@gmail.com