[1] Penal populism is destroying the fabric of this society
Shafiqul Alam, Bureau Chief at AFP News Agency
When Papia, the alleged Westin madame, and her husband were sentenced to 27 years in jail for allegedly keeping a foreign pistol at home, it was an outrageous example of Penal Populism. In many countries, courts no longer sentence a person to more than 20 years to jail even when he or she is found guilty of first degree murder.
This was an outrageous case. Papia has still not been found guilty of her original crime: running an alleged mini brothel in a five star hotel where rich and the mighty would hang out. And yet, she was handed down 27 years in jail for keeping an illegal pistol. Is there any proof she has threatened anyone with her pistol? Is there any proof, she used the weapon to force a girl to have sex with a client?
Our rights groups should have protested it. Only when a rights group can defend the human rights of the most “obnoxious” character in a society people like Papia, Shahed, an alleged mass murderer or a suspected Islamist or Maoist extremist — it can earn the true respect it pines for. In my opinion, you simply can’t jail a person for more than one year for illegal possession of fire arms with which he hasn’t harmed anyone. And there are fair amount of skepticism about these populist cases.
Penal populism is destroying the fabric of this society. It has disproportionately hit the poor and the vulnerable people like the hundreds of fishermen who have been handed down on the spot jail term for up to two years for just catching hilsha fries or violating hilsha fishing ban. Just imagine the kind of impact it will have in his poor family? But the idea is: How dare these poor fishermen catch a fish that would have grown up with meaty delicious flesh to be part of a tasty dish in a rich household?”
At least 39 people were sentenced to death for killing Ekram, the small rural town politician. This is just beyond outrage? In 2007 in Jhenidah 21 Islamist were sentenced to death for just hurling a few molotov cocktails. No one was seriously injured in the attack –let alone it causing any death. And there are plenty of cases of 10 years, 14 years jail just for posting derogatory comments on Facebook. And I don’t want to talk about how many — some say hundreds of thousands of people –who have been denied bail despite being charged in bailable cases. For a poor person, three months in prison can potentially destroy his delicate family.
What has happened to our judiciary or our greater society? Have we become bloodthirsty? Do we want to wipe out crimes just by handing down as much harsh punishment as possible? What is the point of jailing a woman 27 years in jail for possessing illegal firearms, when tens of millions of people in America possess ten times lethal weapons at their homes and no one even bothered about it?
Solidarity with all the people –including Papia and Abdul Malek, the health department driver who got 30 years for illegal firearms possessioj –who are victims of Penal populism!!