Sagar-Runi murder, our hypocrisies and the fetid waters of our lakes

The murder of the journalist couple, Sagar Sarowar and Meherun Runi has shaken all of us. It is not that such crimes haven't happened before but rarely have such victims been so close to us. The sight of the two journalists lying bloodied and dead on the floor has produced terrifying images in our mind, of helplessness, fear and finding resemblance to our many selves. The fact that a child, Megh, has been left behind doubles our agony. Yet behind the horrific scene lies the mysteries of causes that seem to haunt us as much as the gory scene.

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This post is not about the murder itself but the environment that surrounds such an event. It would seem that there are three possible spaces in which conflicts had emerged that led to the murder. Many had thought that the two had somehow gotten involved in matters relating to some sordid secret of the powerful. But is there such a thing as a scandal of the powerful in Bangladesh?

The rich and powerful are not only immune to charges of crime but even can get away with murder. "It's the least punishable of crimes", a fellow journalist has said. Nothing a journalist has as evidence will ever embarrass a man who is capable of committing a bad deed.

Everything has been done, everything has happened but nothing has happened in return to the guilty ones.

Unless one is unlucky enough to have crossed swords with someone who is more powerful than a political party and is on the other side of the fence, a criminal is safe in Bangladesh.

Investigative journalism was probably not the reason that led to the murders.

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Was it dispute over property that led to the murder? It is said that the couple had brought back some significant sums of money from abroad and people were after it. This is more plausible but then little was taken from their home which makes robbery a suspicious source of this violence. Low level thugs do commit mayhem but they are aimed at anonymous citizens not media personalities. It may have happened but it doesn't chime too well as a cause. Some have however said that large sums of money were withdrawn from the bank. Where did it go?

That leaves one to suspect that discord in the personal life whether of one or the other or both may have contributed to this horrific event.

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Dhaka is awash with rumours about the third possibility. Everything is talked about, every sordid detail and potential reason for that murder is being sought, no matter if they make sense or not. Till the charges are filed and cases processed through the courts and guilt is announced, we must reserve judgment. But in a society where facts rarely surface and fictions are the king, we must wrestle with the rumours that are surging with the proverbial force that all rumours have. In a culture like ours where we rarely know what happens and even murders go unpunished or the accused is acquitted even as per the police, it is the public investigation /trial that seems to have occupied a new space that is both judging and judgmental yet closer to the people in every sense than the judiciary. If the courts belong to the state which no longer enjoys high confidence, the rumour mills belong to the people sad as that statement may seem.

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The most common thread is that both Sagar and Runi had relationships outside their marriage and this led to a situation where someone or a duo or several decided to end the life of one or both. Since the husband died of many stab injuries, explainable only if the attacker was in great rage or wanted revenge, the blame has shifted much to the wife in many minds. Yet this blaming doesn't explain why she too was stabbed to death albeit with less fury judging from the wounds.

If she was at home early, why didn't she raise a hue and cry? Why was there no evidence of any struggle? Why did the child sleep through peacefully as the parents were being killed? Was he drugged? The list of questions is endless which we hope will be answered soon enough but what may be disturbing is that it happened to a couple whom we meet and know throughout a given day. They were so 'normal'!

Yet in this city where drug addiction is so rampant, where recreational drug use, alcohol and tobacco abuse is so high, where relationships in many cases have become routes of convenience and indulgence rather than commitment, it is a sign that the social situation is changing but has not been noticed for long.

Not that we can do much about it just as we are not good at repairing our other spaces. What we see as normal may have ceased to be so for some years.

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Our ailment is not individual aberrant behaviour that can lead to murders but a social system that seems to push everyone to a frenetic life that produces such aberrations. It is a society that pretends that the social fabric is as sound as ever but all the signs are there that there have been massive alterations brought about by anarchic system of money making, political corruption and violation of human rights that is unprecedented, a collective inability to make a transition from a village based society to one that could be called rudimentarily modern and urban among other things.

Most rich people still fantasise about how wonderful life was back in the days when they could go to the field in the morning to evacuate as they spend millions to build a marble attired toilet in Dhaka's fancy areas.

Some people are so rich that the only crisis they have is that of spending it. If one were to follow the legal way to become rich, one can never be rich in Bangladesh. By pretending that this is not so while integrating our politics to such an economic structure, we have legitimised hypocrisy.

We do one thing and say another. We demand transparency but make criminal deals. We promise honesty in governance but practice corruption and nepotism. We insist on excellence but reward the mediocre. Those who are not hypocritical are marginalised. It is in the wider environment that such a socio-economic culture that such murders take place.

Nor should we forget that this is a criminal act and no matter what it must be treated as one. Criminals belong to a community of their own and not to those where they may reside as professionals. So if for example the killers are journalists, then that in no way affects the journalists as a community. If the lifestyle and behaviour of anyone involved in the event seems wild or irresponsible or outrageous, it should come out because the stigma belongs to those only who have acted that way and not to all others who may belong to the media trade.

And nor should media leaders put pressure to protect the criminals arguing that if the truth comes out the profession will be affected negatively.

No individual and no community are above the law.

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Few things are more symbolic of our hypocritical situation than the sight of the Gulshan lake which instead of a clean water body serves as the collector of garbage and sewage of the area. A lake serves as a beauty spot but in actuality is a cesspool. Situated against the ugly bottom line of a city gone to the dogs but attracting millions rushing to make a living and in the process pushing real estate price up, it is not a proper city anymore. The city reflects a society that turns putrid and the putridity spreads all the time to our own faces.

May the ugly truth be known.