This is my personal view only and in no way connected to any organization and community with which I work. In the recent case against Helena Jahangir I want to speak my mind. I am standing behind her. Why? I am #supportingHelenaJahangir. People can make mistakes, but one cannot punish someone for mistakes which is beyond equity. You can only dispense punishment upto the maximum level which is appropriate as a punishment for an alleged infraction or offence. What we are seeing in this case is perhaps beyond any rational thought process. The level of her alleged crimes does not merit the treatment she is receiving from the government. In every sphere she is being painted as the villain. The point is, if all of a sudden she has become a villain, then what was the government doing in the past? It is my firm belief that she wanted to have a press conference on matters affecting her but perhaps much embarrassment was awaiting on that day where some vested quarters connected with her party and the government would have been exposed. So, this giant orchestration and vilifying of her as a citizen had to take place and abruptly she was contained under police custody. Her comments were never to be heard by the general citizens as regards the many affairs she waited to speak upon.

The issues raised against her are on flimsy matters and everyone understands that how things are nurtured when one has to be shown a culprit in developing countries like Bangladesh. If law and order system finds her at fault, then I would say at least 20 percent of Bangladesh should be behind bars because in some way or the other one can find faults against many citizens and legal actions can be taken. What we are seeing nothing but alleged misuse of power by the high and mighty on whose shoes she may have stepped into. This is really the gist of the story that I believe is taking place in Bangladesh.

This is no way of handling a citizen in Bangladesh. There are many criminals on the loose in Bangladesh and many have been around the high and mighty people having direct associations with them but we never see the law and order system so quick to nab them. Why are these people given such soft treatments while Helena Jahangir was given the most extreme treatment? In most cases, the alleged criminals run around like VIPs. Sadly, no element of crime that severe was even noticed in the case of Helena Jahangir to merit such a humongous process of arrest, spending so much of tax payers’ money. It seemed that some quarters with high connectivity wanted to vindicate her and push all buttons in the government machinery to ensure that she is taken behind bars. Unfortunately, was her cause that blatant to merit such a grandiose scene, we experienced in the national television? Absolutely not.

I am standing behind #HelenaJahangir as law of the land should be supportive of its citizens, especially who had made decent effort in entrepreneurship and employment creation. We need to respect our citizens. Yes, citizens may do some wrong but the law and order must be judicious in handling each case as to the merit of the case and not an inch more. This should be the spirit of democracy where citizens must have the right to defend and thus the freedom of speech will be ensured as enshrined in our Constitution of Bangladesh. Let us run #Bangladesh by our Constitution and skip all other ways. I believe the state mechanism should not be used to satisfy the ego of the high and mighty. This is unfair and unacceptable. We must respect the law and no one is above the law. People, even high and mighty, should not misuse their powers as sun will also set in regards to their powers and then the same law would come to haunt them down. In short, let us be fair in handling the affairs of the State and being vindictive will only make things worse for the country. Let us rise above vindication and build peace and harmony in our society.  #StandingbehindAggreivedCitizen #StandingbehindHelenaJahangir.