By Zohra Javed
I’ve been so baffled over these past few days hearing and reading so much that I wonder what makes sense and what does not…..and if at all anyone can ever drive some sense into people who have such weird notions about human beings and about life itself….. the perpetrators of violence of any kind need to be brought to book….can there be a system where humaneness be injected into people’s minds….I wish there was a way to do that……
This ghastly and absolutely numbing crime is not a single-point issue…..there is much more to it and I completely agree that the instant politicisation of any social issue ensures that the debates become cynical, and I daresay a lot more glamourous too….look at the panelists on various news channels….I just can’t tolerate even one of them ……….. and their shallow talk and indifferent lip service comes across as so totally outrageous and insulting to the masses who suffer because our legal system is unfortunately perpetrator-friendly…..it may sound strange and ridiculous to those who have not had a brush with it….but those in the field know how atrocious it can be when the victim has to go all out to prove that he/she is indeed the victim while the criminals are not pronounced criminals until proven guilty, which may take years considering the manner in which our courts work.
It is not just this one case where such a heinous crime has been committed so brutally. Today it is Delhi that is being termed the Rape Capital…… Do we remember Gujarat? Rape as a war-weapon has been tolerated and even encouraged…..in times of communal riots it has the sanction of religious/political powers.
And is anyone going to talk about female foeticide when it comes to talking about crime against women…..? and the dowry deaths….?
These are not isolated issues…..they are all related to the dignity of women and they have all taken a hugely inhuman toll on female lives.
I’d like to add that while laws need to be strict, no law is useful if implementation is slack…..also in comparison changing laws is easier than changing a mindset…….and we all know harsh laws don’t change mindsets…….. also if a junior officer is at fault, his senior should be taken to task too…….. most of the time subordinates are at fault because they know their seniors are corrupt and will not penalise them
The blame game is an age-old game and we all seem to play it well Let us stop searching for escape-goats to bear our guilt.
And on second thought I wonder if it is so difficult for parents to teach their children good values……..what kind of parents would like their children to go through legal procedures and punishments to learn values in life……………
Like it or not, admit it or ignore it but the fact will not change unless we do something about it.
And that most regrettable fact is that we have a culture of glorifying violence. We have a mindset where even a drive to educate the masses to get their children vaccinated is termed as a war (against that particular disease).
It would be to our long-term advantage to come out of this ailing primitive mindset and realise that violence is not a solution.
Do we realise that it is this insensitive barbaric mindset that led to the loss of an innocent life. So suddenly everything has changed for the family of a young girl who never had suspected what lay in store for her when she stepped out of the house that day……
Indeed parents as well as teachers have to honestly share the responsibility as to how an adult shapes up…..laws and courts are very torturous….those who have gone there would know how inhuman the system is and something certainly needs to be done to make the system more accountable
We also heard some people argue that after all, the politicians, the police force, the judiciary and others who make the system come from among us……and so I once again ask this one question more emphatically:
“Does it not become important to emphasise on introspective social changes too while we demand a more accountable police and judiciary?”
In all as I said above it is a baffling situation and a lot of things need to be taken together to bring about a solution.
But to begin with parents can start better…..and set an example
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Zohra Javed blogs at http://zohra-javed.blogspot.in