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Editorial
Children of a Lesser God
Scene 1: Two days ago in the Jaswantpur police station area -not very remote town
of the largest state of Uttar Pradesh in
India, a five year
old poor Dalit girl -Komal, accused of theft was brutally
manhandled, her hair unabashedly plucked in front of the camera,
forcing her to admit her guilt. Other policemen and a few onlookers
did not do anything to stop the sub-inspector from committing the
heinous crime.
Scene 2: Three children were killed and many others injured at an unmanned
railway crossing in Ferozepur,
Punjab.
Scene 3: Members of a family, including children were killed in an accident in at
Moga.
Scene 4: Slumdogs continue to live in downtown Dharavi in Mumbai.
Even a stone would have wept at the barbaric manner in which
sub-inspector Shyamlal Yadav went around twisting and twirling the
dry hair of the poor girl who had been hauled for stealing 5 dollars
from the roadside.
His services have since been terminated and an enquiry has
been ordered by the state police chief.
Pause and change the channel.
Scene 5: Chief Minister Mayawati of Uttar Pradesh, in a matter of fact way, first
tells reporters that her state has done enough since the last two
years to tone up the law and order situation and subsequently
announces that action has been taken against the erring police
officials.
What is one expected to do when one sees such grotesque
behaviour on prime time television? How is one supposed to react?
How does one watch such a news item?
After showing the face of the girl for a good one hour, the
channel that broke the story, faded her face, but the enormity of
the gruesome act was still visible.
Such scenes leave a sense of helplessness and remorse about
the society in which one lives. The presence of many people around
going about their daily lives in an unconcerned way challenges you
to do something. The oohs and aahs of family members who think that
this is destiny invoke one to rebel.
Should the media be accused of generating this sense of a
sense of scare, morbidity and numbness which dawns on one while
seeing the footage of such torture? Perhaps not. The media, in
consultation with psychologists and other experts may evolve a code
while depicting such scenes. However, one does wonder as to how
would our police and politicians be reined in without photographic
and videographic proof? Under no circumstances would have Shyamlal
Yadav’s services been terminated had the cameras not been around at
Jaswantpur police station.
Torture and death of children in police stations and on
roads, without society gearing up for revenge or retribution or even
justice is a dangerous signal, showing the abysmal depths in to
which we have descended. This nadir of human relationship and
consciousness is the height of individualism in our society.
Otherwise the death of any one, more so of children should have
become a rallying point of change in the systems that are so
embedded in our psyche. Sadly and unfortunately, we have become
immune to the deaths of these children of a lesser god.
Let’s hope that February 22 will change the way the world
will see
India.
Should Slumdog Millionaire walk away with a couple of Oscars, may be
then the reality of India would become more real for international
civil society and the myth of India being a land of snake charmers
and the false and pseudo non-violent tradition of Mohandas
Karamchand Gandhi would be forgotten. The real India has all the
ingredients of a tin pot little banana republic packed with Stone
Age police personnel, a weak judicial system and a Brahman dominated
social order. A country which has a terrible track record of human
rights violation continues to masquerade as a lover of peace.
4
February 2009
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