Thursday | 16 January 2025 | Reg No- 06
বাংলা
   
Thursday | 16 January 2025 | Epaper

Address the teenage gangs

Published : Saturday, 16 January, 2021 at 12:00 AM  Count : 581
Md Zillur Rahaman
Md Zillur Rahaman

Md Zillur Rahaman

Over time, the teenage gangs have become active not only in different parts of the major cities but also in remote areas of the country. It creates concerns among locals, guardians, law enforcers and others. Most of the young gang stars are aged between 14 and 19 and they are involved in various petty crimes like eve-teasing, mugging and drug abuse.

A few months ago, Tiktok and Likee celebrity got arrested after allegation of his followers stabbed and beat up three local youths in Uttara. Locals alleged that this group was also patronised by the two brothers. This gang has been creating terror and involved in various criminal activities in Uttara and Abdullahpur areas in the last couple of years. Initially, this experience shows the horror of gang culture rightly four years back in Bangladesh. Activities of teen gangs in the capital came to limelight after the murder of Adnan Kabir, a teenage gang member, in early 2017. He was hacked to death by members of his rival group, on January 6 in that year.

Thereafter, terror surged quickly after the murder of Chittagong Collegiate School student Adnan Isfar, a 15 year old stabbed to death following dispute over a cricket match. In the same way in Khulna, seventh grader Razin was stabbed to death during a concert at Khulna Public College on January 20, 2018. Later, the nation was stunned to watch the horrific scene of Rifat Sharif being hacked to death in front of his wife at Barguna on June 26, 2019 and a video footage of which went viral in social media. Rifat was killed by a group of youths, some of them teenagers. The group has styled itself after the fictional Hollywood spy, James Bond, and adopted his famous code name, "007".

Presently at least 50-60 gangs are active and visible in Dhaka city, according to law enforcers. Some of the members of these gangs are working in grocery stores, tea shops, various markets and offices after dropping out from schools. They get together and enjoy the leisure time. Each group has different tag marks. The use of special words at the end of the names of some members of the group, the same haircut, the same kind of clothing, the same kind of shoes, tattoos on a particular part of the body. Also, many group members carry knives or blades. These gang members often ride motorbikes in groups recklessly with loud honking and paint graffiti in different walls of their areas.

Now gang culture has become widespread across the country. It has identified widespread after the violent deaths of several youths. Criminologist and social researchers are saying that this outbreak is the result of the lack of education on tolerance and empathy in teenagers and this gang culture is not new phenomena, but the gangs acting out so violently to the point of committing murder is an alarming issue.

Basically, teenagers are one of the most ignored or misunderstood generations in our society. During the ages of 13-14, every human being undergoes rapid psychological changes that s/he really does not understand properly. In general, the teenage ages are the most vulnerable period for any human being due to various psychological disorders, depression, violence and all that. This is also the age of experiencing a great deal of new emotions, intellectuality and creativity. They become somewhat distant from their parents suddenly as their friends become more important in their lives.

These teen gangs are mostly engaged in drug abuse, eve-teasing and petty crimes. It has found easier for the teenagers to fall prey to criminal syndicates as the parental control has not been as intense as it used to be in the past. Life is turning busier for people in modern times, and they do not find enough time to spend on their children. It has revealed that there are many such gangs not only in major cities, but also in remote areas. These gangs mainly consist of school and college going teenagers.

The gang names are taken from various horror films and video games as well as WWF shows. These gangs have recently been overly active in violent conducts and are getting involved in a range of criminal activities. Their activities were befitting with their times. There was no social media till a decade back. So they used to threaten each other via phones or in person.

Gang culture has always been found around the globe. The main cause of this is conflict among the people. Some aspects of crime exist naturally within society, some others arise from poverty and discrimination. A lack of proper moral education, religious belief and practices, social values on tolerance and empathy is a big factor for growing gang culture. It is possible to come out of the crisis if the causes behind the actions can be uprooted and address properly.
It needs to keep in mind that people are easily influenced at this age. They will learn the concept of heroism as the elders teach it. Our society is so crime prone that it has lost the rights to give moral teachings to the youth. As a result, what they consider as 'power' is in fact violence.

Now the teenage gang culture is not a local concern but also an international phenomenon. Breakdown of society and the tendency to go to the centre of power is the main causes behind the gang culture. Political parties actually patronize them and the textbook education is now incomplete and due to this, hatred towards other religions and humiliation of women are increasing alarmingly. And in terms of this, basic social values are declined.

Now, as ever, there is a lack of natural entertainment that makes teenagers a gang where they take to anti-social activities. Textbook education is not enough to address the issues, family bondage and positive culture is more important to solve this problem. Building awareness among social leaders as well as parents is also the key to solve the problem. In the same time, law enforcement agencies must give attention to counsel the gang members, and their guardians to help them rightly get back to normal life.

In the last couple of years, more than 500 teenage gang members, adolescents and young adults, have been arrested and sent to juvenile detention facilities and prisons. Guardians of the gangster should come forward to help the law enforcement agencies to stop their criminal activists and make their proper juvenile correction.
The writer is a banker and freelance contributor









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