THE former chief election commissioner KM Nurul Huda, who presided over one of the three controversial elections chiefly marked by ballot stuffing the night before the election day, was arrested on June 22 after a mob had detained him hours after the Bangladesh Nationalist Party鈥檚 filing a case with the Sher-e-Bangla Nagar against the deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina, three former chief election commissioners and 20 others for their role in the 2014, 2018 and 2024 elections. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party earlier in the day wrote to the incumbent chief election commissioner, bringing up allegations of large-scale irregularities and electoral misconduct in the 11th national elections of 2018. There is no doubt that the people who helped the Awami League government, which was toppled in a mass uprising on August 5, 2024 after it had governed the country for about a decade and a half, to cling to power with such tainted elections, should, of course, be held to account. But what marred the detention of the former chief election commissioner and his subsequent arrest is the humiliation. A mob put a garland of shoes around the neck of the detained in the presence of the police.
A video of the mob鈥檚 garlanding the former chief election commissioner did the rounds on social media and went viral. Such an event in the presence of the police is deplorable as were similar incidents that took place after the August 2024 political changeover. People belonging to the Awami League regime were assaulted and humiliated at the time of their arrests and when they were taken to court. A few of such people detained were even assaulted in the court. And, on a couple of occasions, the government has said that it would not tolerate such action and would take steps to stop such mob attacks. Yet, it happened, that too, after more than 10 months of the political changeover. In the case at hand, the government has said that it took note of the event, warning legal action against the people involved in the attack and urging people not to take the law into their own hands. The adviser to the interim government on home affairs has also said the next day that what happened in the evening on June 22 was unacceptable and the law enforcement agencies would take action in this regard.
But what appears is that sounding mere warnings would hardly stop the menace unless the warnings are sufficiently substantiated with follow-up action. Such attacks started happening after the political changeover and they continue to happen. The government should understand that mob rage should not rage on as it harms the rule of law.
