Violence in Bangladesh is not new. In fact, violence is one of the many reasons Bangladesh gets some media attention around the world. Recently, a 13-year-old boy, Rajon, was beaten to death by a group of men in Bangladesh who accused him of trying to steal a bicycle. The incident was video recorded and posted on Facebook. In Bangladesh and other countries, this savagely cruel act made people very angry, heartbroken, and upset. The accused were arrested – one from Saudi Arabia after he fled there. Many people in Bangladesh called for the death penalty for the accused.

Violence in Bangladesh against children is not new either. Bangladesh is one of the top-ranking countries in violence against children in peaceful times. What was new in this incident was that the torture was posted online. The people of Bangladesh are rightly outraged at this act of brutal torture and demanding justice. But here are some questions to consider – who really killed Rajon? Why are people angry? Angry against whom? It seems everyone knows the answer (after all, it was posted online! The accused confessed the crime!).

Therefore, the real questions are, if the beating of Rajon was not posted online if it did not go viral, and more importantly if Rajon was not dead, how significant is the event in the Bangladeshi context? Was Rajon protected when he was not beaten?

Most Bangladeshis understand violence in terms of physical, visual, and exposed shape. If the violence is structural violence, psychological and private violence, then that kind of cruelty is almost incomprehensible in Bangladesh. Violence is so cleverly hidden, silently active, subtly present, carefully nurtured, and culturally blended into the social fabric of Bangladesh that it feels like second nature.

So, who killed Rajon? Perhaps he was killed by society as a whole with the initiative taken by the killers!

Rajon was beaten to death by his killers because they thought they knew better than the authorities (the police, the political leader, the judge, etc.). They caught Rajon, accused him, tied him, interrogated him, beat him, broke him, and at last killed him. Did they do anything wrong? If it were bad, this kind of attitude would be the norm in Bangladesh. They took the initiative to correct an issue that they (in their sick mind) thought needed to be taken care of. In Bangladesh, these kinds of behaviors are expressed in many ways. Here are a few examples from this year:

Political parties in Bangladesh killed innocent people by throwing petrol bombs,
People died in police protection,
Bloggers were slaughtered in broad daylight,
Women were molested on Bangla New Year’s Day at Dhaka University area, etc.

These incidents are all wrong, but they are also part of the norm in Bangladesh. In every case, from the police to political parties, to interest groups, to private citizens, all took law and order into their hands. So, what did Rajon’s killers do differently? Rajon’s killers even made an agreement with the local police to set them free – again, wrong but a norm in Bangladesh.

Bangladeshis are victims of violence in a real sense as well as offenders of violence in a metaphysical sense. Therefore, any cause of violence is everybody’s responsibility. When the presence of violence becomes intensely internal, then it is hard to understand that we are also offenders! When animated and undetected violence takes forms of accepted ideas in general, that is a very dangerous situation. For example,

Political violence is the political dialog of Bangladeshi society!
Two-thirds of Bangladeshi children are beaten as the name of child discipline!
Husbands beat wives as part of conjugal discipline!
Police take bribes to expedite criminal investigations!
Organizations are broken into pieces to accommodate personality and practice democracy!
Fast, repeated, senseless, and too many words are used to express ideas in meetings! Etc.

No one likes to take responsibility for the crimes committed by others. Criminals must be punished for a safe, sound, and successful society. But to create that kind of society, the people of Bangladesh need to address the underlying causes of violence, identify connecting nods of violence and societal values associated with violence, and think outside the box to reduce violence. Until then, many Rajons will be beaten to death, and so-called ‘we’ will be angry and demand justice. To save Rajons, the people of Bangladesh have to act together soon!