Horror in Bhashantek

FIFTEEN hours of  most cruel torture that a household in Bhashantek slum went through in February,a tale frontpaged in our Monday issue ,is the height of barbaric  brutality unleashed on a poor and vulner- able family.

A  gang  barged in on a tenement  alleging a member  of the inmates of not sharing a booty of six tola stolen gold ornaments,fell like wolves on the entire family. First, they  rolled over a cricket stump on the body of a pregnant woman eventually cutting short the life of the new-born, huddled nine members of a family in a room, disrobed them including six women and then assaulted them purportedly for 15 hours since February 11 morning.They allegedly even photographed undressed men and women threatening circulation of the video if their demand for gold were not met.

All this is a telling tale of gangland terror unafraid of law  enforcement which has  but  a limited reach.The police force is spread thin  on crime control.It needs  capacity building  in terms of  prevention of crimes and reflexive mechanism to act on short notice to resist a crime from being fully blown.The force has awaited reform to foster greater professional commitment.

Now with the heinous crime commited,what has happened to the perpetrators? Ten were arrested of whom nine are on bail. One remains in jail. The ring leader has reportedly not been apprehended nor has the footage been recovered by police. Meanwhile, the victims bear the scar marks.