Mostafa Kamal MajumderThe murder of Special Branch Police Inspector Mahfuzur Rahman and his wife Swampa Rahman at their Chamelibagh residence several days ago reportedly at the instance of their daughter Oishi Rahman has not only shaken the conscience of average citizens, but also their generally held belief that they can be rest assured of proper upbringing of their wards after getting them admitted to ‘better’ institutions of learning. Worst still is the thought that in the society we are living even children of law enforcers can conspire for their murder. A detailed investigation will hopefully establish the causes and effects relationships leading to the gruesome double murder not far away from the Rajarbagh Police Lines, the headquarters of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, the Bangladesh Police and the seat of the government – the Bangladesh Secretariat. People can only expect that the motives of the murders are unearthed and the guilty ones get the befitting punishment. Questions that prick ordinary people’s minds are that if this can happen to a police inspector and his wife who will guarantee security others?
Preliminary reports made known to journalists by DMP have it that Oishi Rahman, 16, an O-level student of Oxford International School had made her parents unconscious by adding sedatives to their coffee, and invited her friends who stabbed the couple to death. Oishi had reportedly left their flat carrying gold in two bags which the police later seized. She surrendered to Paltan police on Saturday, a day after her parent’s bodies were recovered. Police have taken five accused including Oishi to remand for investigation of the murders. The information that has so far been revealed is that Oishi had overtime turned into an addict and used to occasionally stay away from their residence. Concerned at her behavioural changes, Inspector Mahfuzur Rahman reportedly restricted her movement to and from the house for some time. This reportedly prompted Oishi and her friends to commit the gruesome murders.
The culprit clearly is addiction – if the information so far revealed proves true – and the growing tendency of the school girl to stay away from home. And the drug taken was said to be Yaaba tablets which are aplenty in the metropolis of 15 million people. An unfortunate aspect of addiction as disclosures made by law enforcers from time to time show, the more posh the areas the more the addiction among youngsters. And the more ‘standard’ the schools and the universities the higher is the percentage of addiction among their pupils. A leading private university located in a posh residential area since its launching has opened a counselling wing to dissociate its students from getting addicted to drugs and help the addicts to give up the bad habit. Some better known English medium schools are known for taking harsh actions – like giving TCs (Transfer Certificates) to addicts to check the menace of addition.
But the question is why these tender aged boys and girls should be attracted to addiction when their whole concentration should be on completion of lessons to secure good results at terminal or centrally conducted board examinations? Do the parents not have enough time to monitor the performances of their children, or socialisation at the institutions of learning without a close eye on going off the track is to blame for the trend. It’s not question of blaming parents or teachers of schools and universities, but one of diagnosing the serious illness, identification of its root-causes for finding effective remedies. Inspctor Mahfuz and his wife definitely nurtured many lofty dreams in their hearts centring of the lives of Oishi and her younger brother. They definitely spent enough of their hard earned money to ensure that Oishi did not lag behind in the pursuit of learning. But not only their dreams have been dashed, they have met with untimely deaths for no wrong of their’s own.
We believe the investigators of the case will take help of criminologists and sociologists for ascertaining why girls who have not attained the age of 18 to graduate from childhood to adulthood, would have a wrong view of their own future which is detached from the lives and aspirations of their parents. Were they too loving parents not to be able to regulate and keep their children on track? Or the environment outside the family overtime derailed the children. The double murder of Inspector Mahfuzur Rahman and his wife Swapna Rahman should be taken as an eye-opener. Our children should not get addicted and derailed before they understand the meanings of life and its potentials.
