Those who love to be nostalgic and paint the past as "Ram Rajya" (kingdom of the Ramayana-famed Ram) must not be reluctant to admit that there was a time when burglary was quite common in rural areas. The burglars usually dug a hole, enough for crawling into a room, at dead of night from outside the earthen basement of a house and decamped with whatever they could lay their hands on. But mostly they were after foods - rice and paddy. It was the dacoits who were after gold ornaments or cash of substantial amount. Burglars knew they risked getting caught and therefore messaged their whole body with mustard oil to make it slippery. They wore hardly anything apart from their loin clothes.
The hole the thieves made by removing earth was known as 'sind kata'. Do burglars still go for such hole-digging? Chances are rare because today, the overall economic condition of villagers has improved to an extent where the motivation for such small-scale burglary is simply missing. Then thieves have few places to hide themselves when chased. Gone are the covers of thick bushes of bamboo groves, lush cane growth and trees that once dotted villages all around. Above everything else, the arrival of electricity has not helped their cause by raising the chance of easy exposure when such men move suspiciously at wee hours of night.
Has the art of 'sind' cutting totally vanished then? Not at all if one takes into account the latest Sonali Bank heists at Kishoreganj and Bogra. In fact, the art has been taken to a new level. Yet the tunnel diggers at these two banks are not pioneers. Years ago a group of criminals used a sewerage line to have access to the customs house at the old airport at Tejgaon and removed goods and valuables worth millions of Taka. Investigation implicated a few customs official in that daring burglary but the burgled items could not be recovered. In the case of the burglary at Kishoreganj Sonali Bank, however, the main culprit with almost the entire amount of Tk 17 million could be arrested within just two days. The same has not happened in the case of Bogra Sonali Bank heist. Although a number of arrests have been made, the money worth Tk3.2 million has not as yet been recovered.
Now why do the burglars target only Sonali Bank branches? Is it because this bank has a large number of branches all across the country? Not exactly. Janata, Krishi Banks also have branches in areas of rural setting. An interesting letter published in this newspaper has come up with some probable reasons. It says that Sonali Bank has similar interior design everywhere. The bank vaults are in the back room and therefore it is easier to reach there from behind where security is almost non-existent. The guards keep watch on the front side and would not know what happens behind.
Above everything, the letter writer has boldly hinted at something that has no relation with infrastructure. It concerns more with the measure of morality than with any issue of concrete nature. He points accusing fingers at Hallmark loan and other scams. When people in power and enjoying privileges are found involved in such deplorable incidents, the impression is that money lying with such state-owned banks is for everyone to get an illegal share. The message goes straight to crooked minds and if they think it is time for them to make a move, they cannot be blamed much.
In Bangla there are adages that hit the targets proper. The small burglar is punished but those who have made it a habit of burgling the tank/pond (pukur churi), go scot-free. Society can never be morally right if such things are allowed to happen. Who says in the eyes of law everyone is equal? Had it been the case, many of the so-called 'baro lok' (bigwigs) would never have made it to power or even walked freely now. The proper place for them is prison where they would have languished and made amend for their crimes.
Big burglars and small burglars
Nilratan Halder | Published: March 22, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00
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