Are our laws quickly enforced only when it comes to punishing the poor?

Was it for pursuing likes and shares on Facebook or to mete out justice – these are the kinds of weird questions we find ourselves asking in this era of social media.

But let's first look at the framework of what went down.

A youth set up two sets of ladders to help commuters who were getting off the bus to cross a highway in Narayanganj. He was charging Tk5 per person to cross. The people were also happy to pay.

When a video of the youth, Md Rabiul, 26, helping people cross the highway in this manner went viral on Sunday (17 March), the police had sprung into action.

Kanchpur Highway Police arrested him on the same day and filed a case against him.

What's important to note here is that, according to locals, Rabiul had been doing this same thing for the past 15 days.

The spot where he was doing this is one with the presence of highway police. Meaning, they had obviously seen him doing this.

In fact, they had probably seen him doing this for more than two weeks, but they said nothing.

During the arrest, police said there were two footbridges nearby. This is where the actual question arises: why were commuters risking their lives to use a makeshift crossing when there was a footbridge nearby? It's not new for pedestrians in the country to flout traffic rules.

They do it often right under the noses of the traffic sergeants who are mere spectators.

But the case on the Narayanganj highway was different.

For the past two months, the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) had kept the crossing point closed at the Dhaka-bound road from Kanchpur Bridge in Siddhirganj to Kuwait Plaza area.

This forced passengers into crossing the roads by jumping the lane's divider.

During visits by different TV channels, passengers complained about how there was no way to get to the crossing points. They said it was the buses which forced them to disembark in the middle of the highway.

When the TV crew asked the highway police officials why the buses were allowed to continue this, they chose not to respond.

According to the RHD, the four-lane Dhaka-bound road from Kanchpur Bridge in Siddhirganj to Kuwait Plaza area was divided into two lanes with high dividers to stop risky road crossing and to ensure long-distance vehicles' direct route to Dhaka.

A gate was kept open in front of the RHD office for the movement of passengers from long-distance lanes to regional lanes, but the RHD authorities closed it two months ago.

What's important here is also what the Narayanganj RHD Executive Engineer Shahana Ferdous had to say: they tried several times to enforce the movement of bus services in the designated service line with the Highway Police, but they failed to enforce it.

Back to Rabiul.

A CNG-driver by profession, Rabiul had arrived at his sister's house near the highway.

That's where he says he saw the problem with the crossing. In a few hours, he devised a solution.

It was a start-up entrepreneur's dream: Find problem. Offer solution.

And like a start-up entrepreneur's nightmare, he hit a snag and got arrested.

This forcing of a rule, while necessary, also leaves a bitter taste. Why are rules so easy to force on those without the "approved" economic or social capital?

Why are all our rules so arbitrary? Even though a traffic inspector confirmed that around 40 cases had also been filed against bus companies, none of them seem to be affected.

No pedestrian has been fined either.

Instead of making the crossing easier, the RHD has instead decided to install barbed wires on the dividers. The idea then seems to be used to grind people into submission instead of offering a viable solution.

The RHD has also admitted that it can do little to enforce any of the rules it sets. So, are they instead choosing to appease the masses by only solving issues involving a common man doing something on social media?

Four years ago, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader had remarked that there was no discipline in the transport sector.

Since then, no remarkable improvement in discipline has been seen.

Speaking at a meeting today, Quader urged transport leaders to "save him and the country from embarrassment" by fixing rundown buses.

In 2020, the High Court directed the authorities concerned to form a task force and stop the movement of unfit, rundown buses. The Bangladesh Road Transport Authority, however, claimed it did not have the manpower to do so.

Since then, few have had the appetite to go against the apparently almighty bus owners.

In 2018, a speeding bus lost control and killed two teenagers in Dhaka.

The deaths sparked a nationwide movement, led by the children who took to the streets and demanded safer roads.

Their demands were met with the same kind of "justice" we see meted out to the common people – with an iron fist.

On 4 August the same during a demonstration for road safety, hundreds of children were chased down the capital's streets and beaten up mercilessly.

The same thing happened again two days later. Men wearing helmets, brandishing sticks, iron roads and machetes clubbed the protesting students right in front of the police.

Some media even reported policemen accompanying the attackers, even breaking into apartments.

The powers that be called for the students to go home, warning them that they were targeted.

But who was targeting them? We never found out. Who carried out the attacks? We never found out.

 Soon, a new road safety act was drafted. A traffic week was held. A quick bandaid was put over a bullet wound and we were all asked to move on.

 "There is nothing more to see here."

At the Narayanganj highway, the same thing is unfolding. If the band aid doesn't work, then surely the baton will. If not, then why stop there? Perhaps we can mull rubber bullets next.

But only for the disenfranchised, poor and politically weak. For the rest, do as you please.

Yashab Osama Rahman is the Head of Online at The Business Standard.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard.