Suman K. Sharma
Call it a perversity of the news-media or a sign of our times, the accounts of the shameful deeds of a few aging men have out-spaced all other news these last few weeks. The Arushi case. Then the case of a girl student said to have been molested by a self-proclaimed god-man Asa Ram and two sisters allegedly been sexually exploited by the baba and his ungodly son, Narayan Sain, over a long period of time. A young woman journalist accusing Tarun Tejpal – who till yesterday was a strident trumpet-blower against corruption and impropriety in public life – of having sexually assaulting her on two separate occasions. And most shocking of all, yet another young woman has made allegations against Mr Justice Ashok Kumar Ganguli, a retired Supreme Court judge and currently the Chairman of the West Bengal Human Rights Commission (WBHRC), of sexual harassment during the period she was interning with him.
While holding the dentist couple, the Talwars, guilty of killing their 14-year old daughter, Arushi and a domestic help, Hemraj, inside the four walls of their house, Additional Sessions Judge Sham Lal of the Ghaziabad Special CBI Court has cited a Sanskrit adage: dharmo rakshit rakshitah – protect the law and it will protect you. It would be difficult to think of a more apt axiom to follow in present times.
Consider that the crimes were reportedly committed by those who were in a position of power and trust over the victims at the time of commission. What is a matter of concern is that in all the four cases, the accused while denying the crimes attributed to them have not only asserted their fiduciary relationship (with avowals such as she was our own daughter/she was like my grand-daughter/she was like my daughter) with their alleged victims, but cited it among the grounds of their defence.
How could such sensible, talented and highly respected persons commit patently criminal deeds? Ceasing to be parents, role-model employers or dharma gurus and casting aside their dharma – the intrinsic quality of their being? Was it because of some inconsistency in their mental build-up that got flared up in particular circumstances, like a loose connection in a complicated electric circuit sparking off a conflagration? (Tarun Tejpal has actually been tested for the soundness or otherwise of his mind before being sent to the lock-up.) It will make a rewarding topic of research for the students of human behavior.
Along comes another poser. Okay, even if they were carried away in a moment of weakness, why did they persist in their criminally silly behavior, or tell a zillion lies that they had done nothing wrong? This was because of their arrogance, pure and simple. Naively complacent of their immutable stature, each of them tried to shoo off a tornado that eventually has carried them away. The empty bravado of Asa Ram during the initial days of filing of the FIR against him and the absurdly patronizing statements made by Tarun Tejpal before his arrest are pointers to the mindset of such people.
The yesterday’s stalwarts of society stand humiliated now because of their adharma, shorn of their past glory and whatever else it had taken them a life-time to earn. They have done immense harm to themselves, their kin, their well-wishers, their victims and the society at large. Be it the work-place, a religious gathering or the intimacy of a family home, for now nothing appears to be a safe haven – all because of the people who failed to keep their dharma.
Lessons learnt? We must abide by the dharma – be what we are in relation to others; and if we waver from the narrow path, there is no escaping the consequences.
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