'If I can’t ensure my own child’s safety, how can I ensure others’?'

Chattogram Metropolitan Police Detective Branch (North) Inspector Ansarul Karim had dropped his third-grade daughter off at school with utmost care in the morning.

But in the afternoon, he witnessed his young daughter being seriously injured right before his eyes when a speeding battery-powered autorickshaw crashed into her at the gate of their home. The police officer later expressed his anger and frustration over the incident on social media.

The accident occurred at around 1:30pm on Monday (31August) on Road No. 3 of Jalalabad Society in Khulshi, Chattogram city.

The seriously injured child, Nawal Ansari, was initially taken to a private hospital in the GEC area. She was later admitted to another hospital for better treatment. She sustained severe injuries to both hands, her head, lips and face.

After the incident, Ansarul Karim expressed his anger and frustration in a Facebook post at night, writing, “At 8am, I personally dropped my daughter off at school. At 1:30pm, just as I got out of my car in front of the main gate of our house, an illegal and unregistered autorickshaw came speeding and hit my innocent daughter. She was thrown onto the road and lay there covered in blood.”

He further wrote, “If we, as government employees, cannot ensure the safety of our own innocent children, then my question is: how can we ensure the safety of others?”

Later, when contacted, the police officer expressed his frustration, saying that these autorickshaws have no specific speed limits and their drivers have neither proper training nor licences. He said that while major crimes can be brought under control, it has not been possible to curb the reckless movement of illegal autorickshaws, putting the lives of ordinary people and children at risk.

He called on the Chattogram City Corporation to take strict measures to permanently stop the operation of these illegal vehicles in the city.

Reckless driving by illegal battery-powered autorickshaws has become a regular occurrence in Chattogram city, with such accidents taking place frequently. Although the authorities have conducted drives at different times and banned their operation on highways, their dominance in the city’s smaller roads and alleys has not declined.

After evening, these illegal autorickshaws can also be seen operating unlawfully on the city’s main roads. This has raised serious questions about public safety as well as the effectiveness of the authorities’ restrictions on these vehicles.