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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