Mahatma Gandhi wanted to build an India based on the pillars of truth and character. Yet, nation-building has been the least of our concerns, writes Ashwani lohani
The death of Ram Singh within the precincts of Delhi's Tihar Jail was perhaps the only death in recent times that brought smiles to the faces of many and gladdened many a heart. Vicious as it may sound, the fact remains that Ram Singh's suicide was perhaps the best retribution for the heinous crime that he had perpetrated. Given the slow wheels of justice in this country, one may be forgiven for thinking that perchance Singh's end, which came sooner and in a most unexpected manner, was facilitated somewhat by divine intervention.
Ours, perhaps, must be the only country in the world where acts of murder and mayhem, assassination of a top leader or an attack on the country's most visible symbol of democracy — Parliament — takes decades to be tried and taken to their logical conclusion of punishing the perpetrator. Dispensation of justice is also perhaps as deeply tied in knots as development and education.
The Nirbhaya case has displayed the extent to which a human being can be brutal, merely for satisfying his basic instinct. The extent of violence and sexual assault the murderous bunch, led by Ram Singh, perpetrated on the hapless victim and her friend, shocked not just the common man and brought the normally reticent middle-class folks on the streets, but also outraged the hardcore criminals who crowd the Tihar. It is, therefore, not surprising that Ram Singh and his gang were regarded and treated as the ultimate scum of the earth.
Newspaper reports often highlighted the vicious treatment the Tihar inmates inflicted on all the five who defiled humanity by the rape and murder of Nirbhaya. To that extent, the men of Tihar gained the appreciation of many for at least giving Ram Singh and his gang a taste of their own medicine.
The affected party in almost all instances has a different and an appropriate viewpoint, yet we impose our and society's viewpoint even if it may be contrary had we been directly affected.
During an earlier tenure as the top boss of a major sarkari set-up, I had always cracked down on sexual harassment within office premises and suspended and transferred the offenders in many cases without going through the motions of an enquiry. On being questioned by a union leader during a staff interaction, I agreed to enquiries in future provided the leader would also seek an enquiry and not demand direct action even if his daughter or wife was sexually harassed in the office she worked at. He and all other armchair critics were thus suitably silenced.
I am, therefore, also unable to appreciate the clamour of many armchair activists for a ‘humanitarian handling' of the criminals who displayed animal instincts while violating the girl and worse showed no remorse thereafter. That this is distinctly a behaviour unworthy of mercy or condonation is not in doubt, yet statements seeking the protection of the juvenile by invoking legal rights under sections dealing with rape and murder by adolescents, keep doing the rounds amongst the intelligentsia. Such pseudo-protectionism encourages criminal tendencies, a familiar scenario in the capital city that has a Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000, in force.
Why cannot we be like Singapore or Dubai, nations where criminals are treated alike and crime, therefore, makes rare appearances. That sheer deterrence is indeed the remedy for such crimes is a fact that needs appreciation even amongst that section of the society that remains fairly insulated from all that affects the common citizens of the nation. It is also beyond doubt that all those who are in favour of treating the juvenile offender with kid gloves and abolition of death penalty for even heinous crimes, would change their stance the day someone known to them goes through even a fraction of what ‘Nirbhaya’ had experienced.
Soft-pedalling on issues and on deliverance and economic growth have led our nation to such a pass that even miniscule nations cock their thumbs at us more often than acceptable, and the recent snub is a case in point.
Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation wanted to build an India based on the foundations of truth, value systems and character, yet nation building has perhaps remained the least of our concerns. Today morning en route my office I read a graffiti on an auto that said, “Please don't honk. The nation is sleeping”. How true, yet, how sad!