A teenage girl left her home in Cumilla following an altercation with her mother, went to Cox’s Bazar to meet someone who has now been established as a male friend, spent time in a hotel, came back to Cumilla late at night and then, was violated and brutally killed by a CNG driver.
The body was dumped by the killer, but the police traced signals from her expensive phone, found the body and arrested the perpetrator.
From a very superficial perspective, the case is closed, although the death is unfortunate, the criminal has been caught.
However, this incident has several very disturbing sub layers demanding thorough assessment because treating this as just another crime will leave out a dangerously depraved creed which has insidiously crept into the sub layers of society.
A teen in a relationship:
The first aberration in this whole tragedy is the girl, reportedly 15 years of age and, a minor, who was in a relationship with a youth living in Cox’s Bazar.
Reportedly, after she went to the sea-side tourist town, both checked into a hotel.
We are told that the girl had a quarrel with her mother and left for the sea-side town.
The fact that a teen left the house and her town underlines lack of discipline in the environment in which she was living.
We are not sure if the mother had informed the police when she did not come back that night.
Reports say she spoke to her guardians on the phone from Cox’s Bazaar but after coming back to her town could not enter her home since she came back late at night and the gate of the house was shut.
Here we get several major anomalies:
1. If a young girl is missing for a long period following a quarrel with parents, the family will either report the matter to the police or, they will have someone at the gate to ensure the girl can enter if she returns, whatever the hour.
2. Reports say, she could not enter her house as the gate was locked. Then why didn’t she call her parents or guardians to open the gate?
3. If the girl decided to come back from the sea-side town then why did she choose a late- night bus when the arrival hour would inevitably be very early, thus putting her in an awkward/dicey position?
4. Reports speak of the police finding her body after tracing signals from her expensive phone. Was the phone given to her by her parents? If the answer is yes, then a deeper probe is needed as to the income source of her family because such a young person carrying a pricey phone in a district town appears a major incongruity.
The Friend in Cox’s Bazar with a faux ritzy lifestyle:
The guy in Cox’s Bazar with whom the girl spent time in a hotel has also come under scrutiny.
Although a worker at a hotel, his Facebook profile presented him as a fashionable young man, enjoying an opulent lifestyle – flashy clothes, sports bike, luxuriating at exotic locations etc.
The common term to describe the guy’s social media profile is ‘Catfishing’.
The purpose is simple: fabricate a virtual identity to lure people from the opposite sex by giving an impression of wealth.
Although the guy in Cox’s is not the killer, he has to bear partial responsibility because if he had told the girl to take a day-time or early morning bus, she would still be alive.
From what we have read so far, it seems at one point, after the time spent in the hotel, he was desperate to let her go.
On Facebook, there are countless people like this young chap who create a fabricated image of luxury, wealth and excitement.
The end objective is always some form of deceit.
Actually, the girl, the boy and of course the killer are all part of a very mercenary social creed in which instant gratification, pursuit of money, fame at the expense of ethics and values eclipses traditional conventions.
Uncomfortable questions must be addressed:
As I said earlier, we can either treat this as just another crime, taking satisfaction in the fact that the killer has been caught along with the boy in Cox’s Bazar.
But that will only scratch the surface.
This death is horrific because it involves sexual violence; but the tragedy is also a damning indictment of the layers of social depravity that we decide to ignore.
Whether we like it or not, if there’s a deeper probe, some rather unsavoury and sordid facts may come out but our unwillingness to face clear and present sleaze will only work to protect/propagate society’s shocking underbelly.
There are too many unanswered questions in this death, which need to be addressed no matter how unpleasant they may be.
One feels that family atmosphere often becomes the breeding ground for deviant behaviour and to understand such a tragic end to a young life, the family dynamics of the girl need further probe.
To end, let’s go to the hotel where the girl and the youth spent time.
CCTV footage circulating on social media show the two at the reception and it’s evident that the girl is too young.
But the person at the reception does not demand to see her national ID card.
If adults decide to rent a room, it’s their responsibility but if a minor is entering a hotel with another person, it’s the social duty of the hotel management to inform the law or, at least ask questions.
Again, we come back to those seedy sub-layers, permitted to metastasise and never discussed.
Consequently, young people at an impressionable age are raped and killed.
