The judge pronounced the verdict. The country erupted. The convicts and their families went down on their knees.
The death sentence in the Nirbhaya case is definitely a landmark judgement and in a sense, justice delivered to the family. However, what is indeed baffling is that the majority of the media and the public believe that this is the victory we were all looking for. Is this it?
If you look at it, the rapists are a product of our own system. Irrespective of how we try to move the blame away from the administration, I find it hard to believe that. When you watch NatGeo and see an animal tear into the flesh of another, you feel sick. But that is the natural behavior of the animal. Have you ever asked the question: "What if the rapists did not know that what they were doing was unacceptable?". What if the answer is no? I think that is the scariest part of this whole affair. If you take a baby and bring it up in a colony of animals, it will turn out to be an animal only. Punishment is for those people who know what is right/wrong and still continue to do the wrong thing. I am in no way saying that this punishment was not necessary; it very much was. However, this incident signifies much more. Much much more.
What Kiran Bedi spoke was so simple, yet something the administration seems to miss. "The duty of the parent is not just to bring the baby into the world, but also to ensure that it grows up to be an acceptable human being". But what if the parents are fighting a battle just for survival? Where is the time for education, values and moral education? This whole thing represents the growing rot in the very heart of the society.
Having a rotten heart and still building your muscles at the gym will never make you a strong man. This seems to be the case with India.
Believing that the punishments is our answer is like saying that all the kids in the school who make obvious spelling mistakes should be thrown out of the school, rather than questioning why the child is not learning.
The rapists who will be hung are the products of your society, your system. You failed in ensuring they became acceptable human beings. Now, you just shoot them. But it is not one isolated incident, so it takes us back to the original question. Why did they become like that? I find it hard to comprehend how the punishment will deter the rapists from future acts. It is not that there is a rapist-colony and they all discuss the day-to-day rapes, do they? I am sure the rapes happen in the remotest parts of the country and they are not even aware of this incident and this judgement.
The remotest parts of this great nation live in the dark age. Believe me, they do. Do some reading and digging around and it will become very evident that it is a scary situation. The rot is evident. Incidents like this happen and go unreported in all parts of the country. When these kinds of people travel to the cities and one of these incidents come to the country's attention, the big uproar begins. But believing that this death-sentence is going to solve anything is ludicrous. But it is a beginning, I hope it is not the end.
Imagine you are running a bakery. Out of every 100 loaves of bread, 5 of them have worms in them. You can either wait for the customer to complain, apologize and replace it; or investigate where the worms are coming from and eliminate it. It just depends on the kind of bakery you are running.
Again, administration. When the poor girl got raped, we failed as a society. The punishment is just a curtain drawn over our guilt. A veil of hypocrisy through which we continue to witness the society fall apart.
I hope it does not stop at this. The great nation deserves much more.
The death sentence in the Nirbhaya case is definitely a landmark judgement and in a sense, justice delivered to the family. However, what is indeed baffling is that the majority of the media and the public believe that this is the victory we were all looking for. Is this it?
If you look at it, the rapists are a product of our own system. Irrespective of how we try to move the blame away from the administration, I find it hard to believe that. When you watch NatGeo and see an animal tear into the flesh of another, you feel sick. But that is the natural behavior of the animal. Have you ever asked the question: "What if the rapists did not know that what they were doing was unacceptable?". What if the answer is no? I think that is the scariest part of this whole affair. If you take a baby and bring it up in a colony of animals, it will turn out to be an animal only. Punishment is for those people who know what is right/wrong and still continue to do the wrong thing. I am in no way saying that this punishment was not necessary; it very much was. However, this incident signifies much more. Much much more.
What Kiran Bedi spoke was so simple, yet something the administration seems to miss. "The duty of the parent is not just to bring the baby into the world, but also to ensure that it grows up to be an acceptable human being". But what if the parents are fighting a battle just for survival? Where is the time for education, values and moral education? This whole thing represents the growing rot in the very heart of the society.
Having a rotten heart and still building your muscles at the gym will never make you a strong man. This seems to be the case with India.
Believing that the punishments is our answer is like saying that all the kids in the school who make obvious spelling mistakes should be thrown out of the school, rather than questioning why the child is not learning.
The rapists who will be hung are the products of your society, your system. You failed in ensuring they became acceptable human beings. Now, you just shoot them. But it is not one isolated incident, so it takes us back to the original question. Why did they become like that? I find it hard to comprehend how the punishment will deter the rapists from future acts. It is not that there is a rapist-colony and they all discuss the day-to-day rapes, do they? I am sure the rapes happen in the remotest parts of the country and they are not even aware of this incident and this judgement.
The remotest parts of this great nation live in the dark age. Believe me, they do. Do some reading and digging around and it will become very evident that it is a scary situation. The rot is evident. Incidents like this happen and go unreported in all parts of the country. When these kinds of people travel to the cities and one of these incidents come to the country's attention, the big uproar begins. But believing that this death-sentence is going to solve anything is ludicrous. But it is a beginning, I hope it is not the end.
Imagine you are running a bakery. Out of every 100 loaves of bread, 5 of them have worms in them. You can either wait for the customer to complain, apologize and replace it; or investigate where the worms are coming from and eliminate it. It just depends on the kind of bakery you are running.
Again, administration. When the poor girl got raped, we failed as a society. The punishment is just a curtain drawn over our guilt. A veil of hypocrisy through which we continue to witness the society fall apart.
I hope it does not stop at this. The great nation deserves much more.
