Mugging on autorickshaw
Humayun Hyder, Zigatola, Dhaka
Mugging of autorickshaw passengers has increased manifold in recent times. The muggers target their prey mostly in traffic jams and in deserted areas. The muggers usually work in collusion with the auto-drivers and in some stray cases the crime is being committed by a section of people who are either classified criminals or mentally derailed youths looking for money to buy drugs. It is very unfortunate that despite so many complaints or appeals made through different newspapers the police could not arrest the criminals, even though their number is very negligible. However, considering the modus operandi of the criminals I have a suggestion to make in order to solve the problem. Most of theses criminals are taking advantage of the traffic jam or helplessness of passengers in some solitary street; they just silently board the autorickshaw beside an unsuspecting passenger and then take out their weapons and compel the passengers to pay whatever they have. And that is not the end of the ordeal, they sometimes don't even hesitate to rub a substance made with chili powder and ointment on the eyes of the victims, leaving them in a near blind state. Now we all see that most of the CNG driven autorickshaws have put grills made of steel on both sides of their driving seat. I don't know what on earth they had put those grills for. Definitely they put it for their own protection. Now if the same grill is put on the sides of the passenger's seat, I think this would definitely reduce a lot of mugging on autorickshaws.
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