Gang rape on bus again: Can’t we check the transport workers?

A COURT on Wednesday placed five people on an eight-day remand each in a case filed over killing a nurse after gang rape in a moving bus at Gazaria nearby Bajitpur upazila in Kishoreganj District. Those remanded are bus driver Nuruzzaman, his assistants Lalan Mia, Rafikul Islam, Khokon Mia and Bakul Mia.
Earlier, victim Shahinur Aktar Tania’s father filed a case accusing five people with Bajitpur Police Station. As per the case statement, Tania, a nurse of Ibn Sina Hospital in Dhaka, boarded a ‘Swarnalata Paribahan’ bus from Mohakhali bus-stand on Monday to go to her village home. When the bus reached Ujanpur in Katiadi, other passengers except Tania got down from the bus around 9:30pm.
Later, the driver and his helpers violated the girl in the moving bus and strangled her with her scarf before throwing the body out of the vehicle at Gazaria near Bajitpur upazila. Locals spotted the victim lying on the road and took her to Katiadi Upazila Health Complex where doctors declared her dead around 10:45pm.
It is unthinkable and unacceptable that a nurse — whose profession is committed towards saving lives — would loss her life in such a barbaric and inhumane manner. Bus drivers and their helpers have shown their callousness before–they have raped other women, chopped of a hand of a student, even killed a student by throwing his body of a moving bus.
So while the rape may be nothing new in the steady rise in the brutal and violent activities of bus goers the incident remains an indicator of the lawlessness prevailing in our transport sector. These bus drivers and their attendants consistently seem to think that they are above the law. The brutal murder of the hapless nurse must be condemned in the strongest possible terms.
Dhaka was brought to a standstill not too recently because of the deaths of two students. The death of nurse by rape should bring forth even more strong condemnations from all walks of society. The instigators of such actions must be given strong punishment to ensure that such actions do not repeat. The administration must approach the incident in a stern manner.