Narayanganj has long become a death valley in its own right. Bangladesh has no Kashmir to deal with but the number of killings and their horrific nature set this port town apart from rest of the urban concentrations in the country. What has gone wrong with this once idyllic town from where Bengal's most prodigious and talented comedian Vanu Bandapadhya hailed and took the silver screen by storm?
People who can laugh at themselves or even has the uncanny talent to crack an innocent joke at the cost of others are certainly not gifted with the killing instinct. The insanity now sweeping the length and breadth of that small town simply makes one shudder. Political rivalry has turned murderous and rapacious that even innocent children who have nothing to do with politics are targeted for annihilation. A number of such innocent young ones were murdered allegedly for exacting revenge on political opponents.
A number of ghastly murders including the most infamous involving seven victims have taken by this time. There is no knowing when another serial killing takes place there. After a gap, another such blood-chilling incident took place where the murderer claimed five people's lives.
If the initial police version of the admission made by the accused is correct, the latest murder was committed by a single person -one who is closely related to the family of the dead. In short, the young murderer had developed an illicit relationship with his younger aunt (mami, wife of mother's younger of the two brothers). The family shifted locations at least twice in order to get over the scandal. Finally they settled at Narayanganj where the nephew appeared after a long gap. This time with a job nearby, he once again started visiting the family. Bad habits die hard. The youth indulged once again in sex craving and he was thrashed with shoes for his offence.
That reportedly, provoked him to take revenge for the shoe-thrashing humiliation -a form of punishment mixed with the ultimate form of indignity. Collecting information that both of his uncles would be away from home on a certain night, he hid himself under the bedstead of his aunt. But unfortunately for him, he was caught by another relation of the family who stayed in that room instead of his aunt. After some beating, he was allowed to spend the night there because it was late for him to leave.
He took full advantage of this grace bestowed on him. He hit the man's head when asleep with the stone used for grounding spice. He then used cloth to strangulate the unconscious man to ascertain the latter's death. In this way he murdered four including his two aunts. Then he stayed until a school-going children returned from school. He adopted almost the same method to kill the small one too.
If this is his confession, he seems to have been driven by a black rage and acted like a professional killer. Now if this is so, it really is a cause for serious concern. But his sexual drive and advance have made him blind so much so that he not only failed to master the moral scruple to give up his illicit craving for one who was supposed to be treated with respect. Instead, he was led by his immoral instinct and then felt no qualms, particularly when he was granted some concessions, about killing all five members present in that house on that fateful night.
Surely he is a monster, a sex pervert who represent a section of youths in Bangladesh society. How they fall victim to perversion is what matters most. Society is less than perfect. It is a collective failure to create an ambience for healthy growth of the young generation. Abuse of technology is responsible for this to a large extent. It is necessary to ensure that technology is properly used rather than being grossly abused.
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