Common sense is the only human skill any thinking person needs to realize what a torture it is for a mother to lose her young daughter to an unnatural death. Therefore, it must have taken people with a conscience aback when the grieving mother and grandfather of teenager Chan Yin-lam, whose body was found in the sea off Yau Tong on Sept 22, were rudely insulted and harassed by dozens of political radicals, some of whom pointed at the two, outside the West Kowloon Law Courts Building after they attended the Coroner’s Court hearing on Monday on the unnatural death of the 15-year-old girl.

Instead of offering some consolation or a hug, as has been the case in any other similar occasion, the mob chose to rub salt in the wounds of the grieving mother and grandfather simply because their testimony did not fit into the fanatics’ politically motivated narrative that the girl was murdered by police rather than that she committed suicide due to emotional issues. The poor mother and grandfather had to be whisked by taxi to a nearby police station before being escorted home by police officers.

The ongoing inquest, which is expected to last 11 days with up to 30 witnesses, is the only possible way to establish the truth in an authoritative manner. But the political zealots want their narrative to prevail right now. For them, it is too long to wait for the result of the Coroner’s Court inquest.

This callous act — trying to promote a political agenda by cruelly inflicting pain on the weak and innocent with abandon — demonstrates the diminishment or even total loss of humanity among the political fanatics in the city.

Tuesday’s arrest and Thursday’s indictment of a 17-year-old student and a 65-year-old woman who were among the harassers are necessary not only to restore justice to the victims but to deter such cruel acts in the future. Most importantly, the strict enforcement of the law is necessary to restore the lost humanity.

The political zealots have, without fail, been promoting their political agendas or ideas under the guise of “democracy”, “freedom”, “civil rights”, etc., and have cheated quite a few unwary Hong Kong people into buying into their twisted ideas. Those who have bought into the fanatics’ twisted ideas must now confront the question: How could the advancement of democracy in any way compensate for the loss of humanity?