What's trending: #JusticeforRajon
What's trending: #JusticeforRajon
In Bangladesh, there has been outcry after a boy was publicly beaten to death by a mob of men in the northeastern city of Sylhet about two weeks ago. A video of the beating has also become viral on social media.
The boy, 13 year old Samiul Alam Rajon, was the son of a driver and sold vegetables with his family. On July 8, Rajon was tied to a pole and beaten with a stick repeatedly by a group of five or six men in Sundar Ali Market after being suspected of stealing a bicycle rickshaw van, though this was denied by his family. In the viral video, which was taken by one of the tormentors and posted to Facebook, the boy is shown asking for water and pleading his attackers to stop inflicting injury, but they continue, hitting him on the head, stomach, and nails. An autopsy later found that Rajon died from brain hemorrhage sustained from the beatings, and 64 injury marks were found on his body.
After killing Rajon, the mob of men were spotted by locals trying to dispose of his body in a landfill, and one of them, Muhit Alam, was handed over to the police. His brother, Kamrul Islam, who had traveled to Saudi Arabia after taking part in the murder, was detained in Jeddah. Three other suspects were arrested a couple of days later.
In the wake of Rajon's brutal murder, there has been outrage pouring out all over social media. A change.org petition demanding the full punishment of every perpetrator and an IndieGoGo page fundraising for Rajon's family has been set up, and public protests have been taking place in Sylhet daily.
This isn't the only heinous crime making headlines in Bangladesh lately. In the past week, a woman's eyes were gouged out by her husband for refusing to pay dowry, while another woman was beaten and poisoned to death for arguing with her husband. Unfortunately, these types of horrifying incidents are not isolated in Bangladesh.
Over the past several years, crime in Bangladesh and other South Asian countries has become increasingly brutal. This can be attributed to the fact that often, perpetrators of such crimes are not prosecuted and punished because of widespread corruption and bribery. It is up to the general population, then, to make their voices heard and demand justice for the innocent.
Noorhan is a high school sophomore. She is the founding president of her school's Girl Up chapter, and is a member of several other clubs as well. She is passionate about female empowerment/education and STEM/science research. When she's not busy with school, she enjoys writing, photography, outfit-planning, and traveling with her family.