Muntakim Saad

Four years ago, some plainclothesmen picked up Mohon Mia from his Mirpur house. He has never returned home again. His father Jamsher Ali, a trader, has long insisted he has proof that Rab-4 members took his elder son away without giving any reason.

A simple motorbike accident by a teenage boy in the capital’s Mirpur has been turned into an extortion case against eight school and college students for reasons the victim, his family and witnesses cannot explain.

The Cabinet Committee on Law and Order at the home ministry recently suggested that the legal age determining who is a “child” be lowered.

Over a month and a half have passed, but law enforcers are yet to locate the prime suspect in the murder  case of deliveryman Nahid Mia. He was killed during the recent violent clashes between Dhaka College students and New Market’s shopkeepers.

They are the ones who run towards danger when others run from it. Be it a fire, explosion, road accident, landslide, launch capsize or other natural or manmade calamities, these first responders rush to the spot selflessly.

Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal leaders and activists have come under repeated attacks by the armed members of Bangladesh Chhatra League since Tuesday while trying to hold programmes in Dhaka University areas and some other parts of the country.

Heated arguments and brawls between the shopkeepers of New Market area and Dhaka College students are nothing new. Over the years, the city dwellers suffered their share when both the parties locked into running battles and violent clashes -- most of the time over trivial matters.

Law enforcers yesterday interrogated at least six Dhaka College Chhatra League men with links to the clashes between students and traders in the capital’s New Market area, which left two persons dead.

The youths who beat up and hacked 19-year-old Nahid Mia during the New Market clashes on Tuesday have primarily been identified and are now under police surveillance, said multiple sources, including law enforcers.

During the fierce clashes between shopkeepers and Dhaka College students in New Market area on Tuesday, a young man in a dark blue T-shirt was seen lying motionless in front of Nur Jahan Super Market.

Incidents of various crimes, especially killing and mugging, have recently seen an upward trend in Dhaka, showing a worrying sign of declining law and order situation.

Dhaka city dwellers fear that congestion on streets is going to be even more unbearable with the schools and colleges staying open for the better part of Ramadan.

With edible oil fast vanishing from retailers’ shelves in the wake of a supply crunch, a retired government official turned out to be on the list of hoarders after stockpiling 512 litres of soybean oil.

The shopkeepers of the Nilkhet book market that caught fire in the capital on Tuesday are in a miserable state after losing their businesses to the blaze.

Despite being aware of the threats to life and property, Hazi Wahed Mansion owners still rented out the residential property to set up five warehouses for flammable materials in order to make extra profit.

To prevent suicides, Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has recently started working with Facebook and TikTok to get information about social-media users who are vulnerable to self-harming tendencies.

Numbers in the quest for justice in Sagar-Runi murder keep getting longer as investigators continue to fail to make any headway in the investigation.

During the day, they make “TikTok” videos for the streaming app, just like any other youth. But when the light dims, they go out on a different mission -- breaking into people’s residences and stealing their valuables.

No “gunfight” took place in the country between law enforcers and criminals since December 10 last when the United States imposed human rights-related sanctions on the Rapid Action Battalion and seven of its top officials.

At least 853 people were killed and 236 others seriously injured in workplace accidents last year, according to a survey by Bangladesh Occupational Safety, Health and Environment Foundation.