WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWERS GONE

 



“This is a court of Law, young man…

not a court of Justice.”

Justice  Oliver Wendell Homes Jr.

 

I feel sad, shocked, disgusted, angry, numb and even cynical – I am short of terms to describe it – when I hear about the recurring incidents of gangrapes in our country. The latest, to shock us and numb us, is that of a little 9-year-old girl in our Capital.

This girl lived in poverty of her Dalit basti, and she had gone to fill a bottle of cold water in a crematorium in her neighbourhood.

When I think of  this girl, being gangraped and burnt to death, in such a horrific manner, I experience the entire gambit of emotions stated by me at the outset: sadness, shock, disgust, anger, numbness and cynicism.

Man, we know, is an animal… We also know, that a section of animals is called ‘beasts!

The ghastly acts of gangrape, or such crimes, can be carried out only by beasts. The beasts in the jungle do it for their food, and that’s how they are supposed to live in the jungle. But, the beasts around us do it for their lust… That’s against the way we are supposed to live!

What is painful to watch, when these horrific incidents blow up, is the way law and justice play out in our country… ‘Jiski lathi uski bhains’. If you are weak and hapless, you are just a bhains, a buffalo! The noise which the news channels and the political parties make about it, and the protests which the civil society makes over it – yes, all these may help to keep the story in focus for some days… may be, for some months. The culprits may be even hanged after a couple of decades of trial… Or, it may all end up like ‘No one killed Jessica’… No one raped and killed the little girl from Delhi’s basti!






The justice should be done to the victim’s family. I, too, want it. The culprits should be given the harshest punishment and in the fastest manner… Yes, I want it, too. More than anything else, I want our society to be free of ‘beasts’…

How naïve my expectation can be!

A society free of beasts?

I really do not know what is going to be the fate of this latest Nirbhaya case. They say, 'The law takes its own course'... It means, that it may take some twenty years for the buffalo to prove its innocence…

If you have not heard about it, let me rewind it, here:

A buffalo is running frantically. 

An elephant sees it and asks, “Why are you running?”

“Because, they are arresting all the cows,” says the buffalo.

“But, you are a buffalo and not a cow,” the elephant tries to explain to the buffalo.

“I know. But, that will take some twenty years for me to prove it in an Indian court of law,” replies the buffalo and continues to run.

Hearing this, even the elephant starts running!





Hundred years have passed since Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. made his famous statement: “This is a court of Law, young man… not a court of Justice.”

‘Jiski lathi uski bhains’!

Buffaloes that we are!

 

GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic’s: 1. Kat Jayne 2. Sharon McCutcheon

Video: The Kingston trio/Jasmine e

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