Public Memory is Notoriously Short

All hell broke loose on 17 Dec 2012. It was, as if someone had pulled the plug out!  Thousands of people took to the streets to protest against the bestial gang rape of a 23 year old medical student. To the lay public it seemed that such a thing had never happened before. Nobody mentioned the gruesome case of the Chopra children. Here is what happened, only 35 years ago, in Delhi:

• 16 year old Geeta Chopra and her younger brother,  Sanjay had gone for recording to the studio of All India Radio for a recording on 26 Aug 1978. They were the only two children of Capt (later Rear Admiral)  and Mrs MM Chopra.

• Those days, it was common for people, especially students to ‘thumb’ a lift. The Chopra children managed a lift up to Gole Dakkhana, and from there, they got another lift in a Fiat car, but that proved to be their last journey on the Earth.

• The Fiat car was a virtual trap. Its inside door  knobs and handles had been removed, and therefore, as soon as the children got in, they were prisoners of the gangsters Billa and Ranga, who had stolen the car a few days before the above incident.

• The dead bodies of the children were discovered on 29 Aug, 78. The post mortem showed enough evidence to prove that the children had  valiantly fought till their last breath.

• The criminals were apprehended a few months after  the crime. They were hanged to death in 1982, nearly four years after the  crime.

• Geeta was awarded ‘Kirti Chakra’ and bravery awards were instituted in the memory of the Chopra children which are granted even now. The picture above shows Geeta’s mother receiving the Medal.

The cult of ‘thumbing a lift’ was at its peak in 1978 

The media, those days was not as powerful as it is now, but the event did send out shock waves. The immediate effect on society was that people stopped seeking and giving ‘lift’ to strangers. As children we had heard the story of a good Samaritan who was always ready to help a person in need. One day, as he was returning from the market, he saw a ‘cripple’ walking on the lonely road with the help of a stick. When he reached near him, the poor man fell down. Our hero stopped to help him, but as soon as he got off the horse, another man appeared and the two of them looted the kindly Samaritan. They also deprived him of his horse, but as they were leaving, the old man yelled out to them and said, “Just do me one favor. Do not tell any one in the town about what you did to me. If people get to know of it, no one will ever stop to help the needy!”

Nearer home, this is exactly what happened. A caricature artist made a sketch depicting a man with a cross, thumbing for a lift. The message was clear and loud, “If you get into the car of a stranger, you might be walking into a coffin!”  Today, even taxi drivers do not pick up a man, unless they feel safe enough!

Ever since the kidnapping and death of the Chopra children, ’thumbing lifts’ has ‘Gone With the Wind’

Crime, Law and Punishment

Crime is not new to mankind. We enact laws to protect our citizens, but the criminals are, forever, one step ahead. In 1978, Billa and Ranga used a car without door handles as a trap, and this time, the culprits used a luxury bus for the same purpose. There is an old adage:

“The robber is an artist. The police is merely a critic!”

There is an outcry for stringent laws to protect our daughters and sisters. A committee has been appointed, and there is no doubt that they will produce an airtight statute. If I were asked, I would offer the following views:

• Certainty of punishment is a greater deterrent than its severity. Death penalty is the ultimate sentence, but if there is a good chance for the criminal to get away, he will take a calculated risk, and commit the crime.

• Justice delayed, is justice denied. If the legal machinery takes several years to deliver justice, and during the trial period, the accused has the provision of bail and all the facilities inside the jail (including security) then it is more like a paid holiday, since the prisoner can also go on parole, if he is well-connected.

• The law must apply equally to all regardless of the status and political connections of the offender.

To amplify the last point permit me to quote just two cases:

• Jessica Lal was shot dead. But no one fired the gun!

• Priyadarshini Mattoo’s soul is crying out for justice, 16 years after she was tormented to death.

A Peep into the History

Looking back, we find that in our country, resolute governments have been able to reform society. Here I may mention two cases: the Sati tradition in which widows were burnt alive along with their husbands as a religious ritual and the Thuggee cult which prevailed in India for over 500 years. The Sati Prahtha is all but gone. Thuggee of the old kind is gone, but it is beginning to return in another incarnation. My information is based on what I have seen on the Internet. We are told that the “Thugs” had the social and even the religious sanction. They joined caravans and won the confidence of the travelers. Thereafter they laid a trap exactly as Billa-Ranga and the Bus driver did on 16 Dec 2012, and robbed the victims before killing them. Here are a couple of pictures of the traditional Thugs:

The ‘thugs’ lived as clans, and they had no compunction while committing their crimes

This is how they killed their victim.

 

British suppression

The Thuggee cult was suppressed by the British rulers of India in the 1830s. The arrival of the British and their development of a methodology to tackle crime meant the techniques of the Thugs had met their match. Suddenly, the mysterious disappearances were mysteries no longer and it became clear how even large caravans could be infiltrated by apparently small groups,  that were in fact acting in concert. Once the techniques were known to all travellers, the element of surprise was gone and the attacks became botched, until the hunters became the hunted.

Reasons for the success of the British mission to win over this menace are given in an article in Wikipedia, which can be accessed by clicking on the following link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thuggee

The Road Ahead

The massive public outrage and the unprecedented media cover will not permit the courageous fight-to-death of this 23 year old brave heart go waste. A new law will be enacted, and the government will be forced to take some concrete steps to improve  law enforcement. Both TV and the print media have interviewed hundreds of people who are active in these fields. However, there does not seem to be any consensus on what should be done to prevent re-occurrence of such an incident. The root cause as identified by the various authorities can be grouped under the following categories:

• Insufficient legal protection and need for more stringent laws.

• Delay in legal proceedings and need for ‘fast track’ courts.

• Indecent scenes in the movies and the need for better censors.

• Use of provocative dresses by girls, and need for restraint on that count.

• Free availability of alcohol. The need to control it and also re-locate liquor vends.

• One or two elderly scholars have recommended legal prostitution.

• A suggestion has also been made to subsidize the development and sale of robotic sex dolls to facilitate self-gratification, and thus reduce the male urge to resort to violence.

• A suggestion has been made to chemically castrate the offenders, as a deterrent.

Need to Control Public Transport and Improve Road Safety

 It is common knowledge that thousands of private vehicles are being used as taxis and Buses. They employ drivers of dubious character and qualifications and are, in effect, moving coffins on the roads. There is enough reason to believe that these vehicles ply with the tacit approval of the police. It is a well known fact that our roads are amongst the most unsafe in the world. More than 1,30,000 people lost their lives last year and four times that number suffered injuries. The annual loss to the economy is nearly THREE percent of our GDP. And this figure is, incidentally higher than our defense budget! In addition to being a menace on the roads, they are a threat to our daughters and sisters much greater than the potential rapists and kidnappers

This Above All!

In my not so humble opinion, the prime need of the hour is to put an effective check on the practice of the “HAFTA” prevalent all over the country. Nearly all laws can be institutionally bypassed by paying a negotiated amount to the enforcement authority every week. This is an evil which is as serious as the ‘THUGGI’ system which the British were able to check.

The Demonstrations in Delhi and the Response of our Police

Some of my friends who have been associated with organizing rallies and protest marches tell me that it is extremely difficult to muster even a few thousand people and that too for a short period. In many cases, the ‘demonstrators’ have to be hired or transported from the neighboring villages at the organizers’ expense. They are fed and paid to shout slogans and carry placards. The job of the police is to prevent them from going beyond the limits laid down for  protests and rallies, and to prevent violence. In this case, the protests were purely voluntary and they were not supported by any particular party or organization. The response was unprecedented. Without commenting on the events, I am placing a few pictures below, since these photographs convey more than what can be written or said in words. In my not so short life, I have never seen a spontaneous demonstration of this magnitude. 

The child under the foot of the senior police officer is most certainly a minor!  This picture should be enough evidence to proceed against him.

 Which daughters and sisters are we talking about? Do the above young ladies not fall in that category? Did some one speak to them and ask them why they are there? If not, why are they being treated like criminals? What would they do if their own daughters were there. Would they strike them with  lathis? Is someone listening??? Or, are these pictures telling lies???!!!

The Summing Up

I suspect I am getting old. I am no longer able to choose the right words to express my anguish and sorrow. In utter helplessness, I have turned to an old film song for help. The lyric was penned by Anand Bakshi (1920-2002)  who incidentally started his life as a Signalman in the army. The last stanza is very relevant in the present case.

माना तूफ़ान के आगे नहीं चलता ज़ोर किसी का 

मौजों का दोष नहीं है यह दोष है और किसी का

मंझधार में नय्या डोले, तो मांझी पार लगाये 

मांझी जो नाव डुबोये , उसे कौन बचाए ?

We are agreed, that no one can control a storm

But do not blame the waves; fault lies elsewhere

If a boat rocks midstream, the coxswain steers it home

But if the Skipper sinks the craft, who can save it?

Click on the following link if you wish to listen to the song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptqkTdtt7nI