Mob justice going too far

The beating of two men to death at two highest seats of learning cannot be passed as mob violence or mob justice which itself goes counter to any civilised norm and legal standard. That it can happen on campuses at the hands of students many of whom may have joined the quota reform and anti-discrimination movements is simply mind-boggling. The very principle of a stand against anti-discrimination has not only been grossly compromised but also the law of the land has also been violated through the act of killing.
To imagine that a mentally sick vagabond has been beaten and then fed before delivering the second round of severe lynching leading to the poor soul's death is to experience intensely painful and even contradictory emotions. Painful because here is a vulnerable and defenceless human being who needed compassion and pity but he was administered the cruellest of physical assaults to which he succumbed. Contradictory, because, there is a sense of helplessness as well as rage, for there is nowhere to turn for a remedy to such insanity! Students pursuing higher study at the universities ought to be humane, kind and compassionate in the first place if they want to advance the cause of anti-discriminatory principles in society.
The nature of violence the Chhatra League leader of Jahangirnagar University was subjected to is equally, if not more, merciless. After the first round of lynching, he was reportedly rescued by university authorities and securely kept in a room under lock and key but the attackers broke open the door to deliver their killer blows. University students are not mobs on the road coming from diverse social backgrounds with disperate worlds of thought. Even if some of their social backgrounds were not particularly enviable, their integration with the campus life should have given them an insight into the wider world of knowledge. Particularly, the anti-discrimination movement should have strengthened their moral standpoint.
Accepted that the social violence experienced in time of a war, civil war or uprising of the order that saw off a repressive government actually makes violence somewhat normal for a people in general. Not everyone feels the mortification confronting extreme forms of violence but some do. Adaptation and habituation are in human nature for people's survival in this imperfect world. But yet, the worst form of violence is not expected from the enlightened segment of society. Their anti-aggression and anti-violence stance is an inspiration for society in general. Why are universities called the highest seats of learning? It is because, people expect that learning at this level has a sobering influence on the mental makeup of the learners.
Unfortunately, this has not happened. Ever since the creation of Bangladesh, there have been turf wars on campuses between rival student groups leading to monopoly of power wielding by the student wing of the ruling party of the time. Military rulers actually showed the ways of vesting power in student politics which during the successive regimes were taken from one extreme to the next. Brilliant students were first spoiled and then turned into monsters. Intoxicated with power and money that came their way so easily, they lost all human qualities and turned universities, dormitories in particular, dens of vices.
When today's students have been a witness to such deterioration of academic atmosphere and which actually ignited the spark of the conflagration of a movement that has swept away a tyrant government and together with it the oppressors on campuses, the fighters of injustice were expected to give a better account of themselves at this critical juncture. It is the best of time and it is also the worst of time. Depends on how the protagonists of such a movement maintain their sagacity in the face of provocation and temptation. They have long raised their voice against extra-judicial killing. Now if they resort to summary justice like this, the country will sooner than later plunge into anarchy or even a civil war. Those who have been a target of such mob violence may organise from underground and hit back. That is not a good prospect for anyone.
In this context, the interim government's role has not been particularly decisive in deterring such social violence. When teachers were physically assaulted indiscriminately forcing them to resign, the raw rot actually began to show. Students across the country have done so from a sense of superior standpoint. But can teacher-student equation be so simplified and relegated to the dungeon? Now societal values and principles have taken leave of society creating room for insane aggression and violence. Some of the advisers' routine statements of late in the future tense like "We'll not tolerate any mob violence or extra-judicial killings. If it happens, we will take stern actions" or "No one has the right to take law into his/her own hands" sound really ludicrous. This has been happening and a contemporary reports that 21 people have lost their lives to lynching in the past 38 days. Pray, when will the action be taken? Such laxity encourages the acts of violence.