Shiban Khaibri
A mother once said to her child on behalf of all mothers, “I will nurture, protect, guide and love you more deeply than you could ever imagine – from your first heart beat till my very last.” She, in turn deserves to be respected, nay – worshipped, by her grown up “child” and not to ravage her modesty when she is in her advanced age of 72. Can we draw up an analogy even with savage beasts of what reportedly went with the Kolkata nun a few days back, definitely not? It would be tantamount to belittling the beasts and their savagery, if you call their natural instinct as savagery. Virtually this writer is unable to enumerate in befitting words what it could look like to describe one of the most horrendous crimes against humanity and human values that virtually her grand children’s age could do to her grandma. The culprits who are worst than deadliest vermin need to be skinned alive and hanged in full public view as their very survival is a threat to the tenets of humanity.
Two heart rending incidents took place in our country last week , there must have been many more across the country but the two which came to the limelight are about the assault on an elderly nun in Ranaghat Kolkata and the other a young bright honest IAS officer’s life cut short in Karnataka. On deep perusal of both the incidents, it surfaces that dignity and the value of an individual Indian is dwarfed before materialistic considerations, devoid of any values worth the salt. Many have been erroneously reporting it as “shame on India”. Why should, at the outset, we dare to call incidents of crime as shame of the country giving fodder, unwittingly to other countries demean the image of crores of innocent Indians who for an act or two in a town or a city by delinquent law breakers, should carry the ignominy of “shame” and face international isolation, hate or apartheid. We should also bid adieu to our conventional style of “Ghoor Ninda” or severest condemnation of such incidents. We have been regularly doing it with the terror attacks. Ghoor Ninda against whom, who is bothered or ashamed of this stereo type “Ghoor Ninda”? Instead, energies need to be pooled to nab as early as possible the culprits and prosecute them in fast tracking courts and ensure their conviction. At the cost of repetition, the scoundrels who defiled the chastity of the elderly nun need to be given capital punishment in full public view. To that extent, we need to amend our IPC provisions. Human dignity is the birth right of even the accused but with the criminals in the nun rape case, let us sincerely ask whether they deserve any consideration of dignity. None from political “masters” has come up with such suggestion. Instead, it is sickening to observe that the gruesome incident has been turned into a tug of war to settle political scores. Sharda scam waves are sought to be contained by reacting to this incident as a consequence of “Ghor Vapasi” or Home coming. Ridiculous and repulsive reactions and statements and counter statements make us more ridiculous before the international community, no wonder that Italy has ventured to fish in our troubled waters by sending their consul officers to “file reports from the scene of crime” for their country. Incredible, indeed, but shocking as well. Have we dared to do it in any other country, the smallest one even? Precisely not, because they interpret democracy neither this way nor they ruthlessly and without any self control invoke likes of section 19 of our constitution there.
We do not stop there but even communalize a social stain. Congress Party saw its so called snoop gate claim getting unmasked and in the nun case “pardoned ” or even “exonerated” TMC and the Didi for very poor law and order in West Bengal and chose to like the incident to the “Ghar Wapsi”. For Mamta Ji , it is photo- ops and for the left , it is an “attack on secularism”. It is beyond comprehension that a reprehensible heinous crime like rape is linked to “attack on secularism”. Had Mirza Ghalib perhaps chosen the couplet for such a scenario, “Phelay aati thi haal -e- dil pe hansii : ab kisi baat par nahii aati”. Nobody is asking the real questions as to why did the Police not respond to the specific alert raised by the nuns previously. Why did the cops not pursue a previous incident at the concerned school? Why have the cops been intent on a rape horror as a case of robbery? Why, again, was no FIR filed, instead just a complaint filed in a “diary”. Despite goons caught on CCTVs, why have no specific arrests been made till the writing of these lines? It is quite disturbing that the incident has been painted as communal and the Vatican Radio portal has gone viral as it heaps “shame” on the country. Besides representatives of the Pope in India , a top Cardinal’s visit of the crime scene and issuing of avoidable statements must raise many an eyebrow as the cardinal wants to “expose the real motive”. These are imputing motives and Vatican meddling through proxies in a local law and order problem is unacceptable to India. What locus standi has Italy in sending consular official and visit the scene of crime? It is totally untenable that the Vatican should scrutinize and Italy should meddle in a reprehensible local rape case. Bowing to the pressure, the WB government has agreed to have a CBI probe into the incident.
An upright young honest IAS officer D.K. Ravi in Karnataka was found dead in “mysterious circumstances” in his home which has sent shock waves across the country and in particular in Karnataka where the people in large numbers have mourned his untimely suspicious looking death and demonstrated that honesty, probity and sincerity are still adorned in this country. They have shown scorn and hate for the mafia and the corrupt nexus of some political heavy weights, bureaucrats and business houses howsoever mighty and powerful they might look. It appears that he has paid the price of being honest. It now has got revealed that Ravi was a legend in himself in enforcing the writ of the law and the set procedures and was a terror for mafia and the tax evaders. A suicide theory floated by the Congress government administration much before the probe results has made things look fishy and the peoples’ chorus has gained antecedence for a CBI probe which the government there is refusing. Instead, slander and sleaze is heaped reportedly by the government on the departed visionary officer. Stories are planted to malign him. We know what treatment was meted out to UP’s Durga Shakti Nagpal and Haryana’s Ashok Khemka.
Whistle blowers and activists are generally silenced. We know Satindra Dubey was killed in Bihar in 2003 fighting corruption. S. Manjunath killed in UP. Narindra Kumar an IPS was killed in MP in 2009, Lalit Mehta in 2008, Satish Shetty was killed in 2010. Madan Nayak killed in 2012, Zia-ul-Haq IPS was killed in 2013 and now Ravi has died a tragic death. A brave officer gifted with a fighting spirit cannot commit suicide and whatever the case, let it be probed by the CBI . It sounds prosaic that good deeds are thoroughly debated for hours and days together only after the “hero” dies and never, generally, when he is actively fighting on the corruption front and performing very superbly. We have to change our mind set otherwise again to quote Ghalib:-
“Ishrat -e- qatra hai darya mai fanna hona: darad ka hudd say guzarna hai dawa ho jana.”
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