The Evil Rises:

February 18/2013: The law will take its own course indeed! In India and especially in Orissa wherever a bunch of hooligans can get together, they can hold the system to ransom. This may be construed as the law taking its own course because there is no law that contradicts these gangs. On one hand, it is ok to say that to stop criminal activity on the roads, cars and public transport vehicles must not have dark screens on the windows. In the same breath, we socially accept girls getting assaulted by gangs in full public view for spending time with their partners or friends. While the whole nation cries hoarse over one rape and murder in Delhi, Orissa has the unique capability to not only stay quiet in that upheaval but willingly admire the hooliganism of rowdies who intimidate, abuse and insult girls in the capital city of this state and walk away free. The surprising factor is that these frustrated people had given prior notice about their impending attack on couples in public places on 14th February because, due to some perverted mindset of theirs, these girls should kowtow to their diktats. This convoluted thinking process is getting stronger by the day because the system refuses to respond to their open threat. Not only that, going a step further, the government barred people from parks and promenades that day, indirectly supporting this perversion.

Once you allow gangs to operate and dictate social behavior, it becomes a force that will very soon overtake the strength of the law abiding citizen. That will be the threshold where Talibanisation will thrive. It is easy to subjugate the sensible and fair minded people by muscle power. History has shown that Adolf Hitler, Mao Tse Tung, Pol Pot, Ayatollah Khomeini and many others have made their world destruction dreams come true by using brute force against civilized society. The Islamic Sharia law is one glaring example of barbaric human behavior of attempts at setting up a system to control all. In this process, women are the first to fall victims. The worrying factor is that when civilized society or the system refuses to accept this threat and does not take steps to nip the danger at the bud, it soon overpowers everything and the result is disastrous. Today, the hooligans who have dared to publicly attack and humiliate young girls in Orissa, will not be easily reined in when tomorrow they decide to enter your homes and dictate how your daughter, wife or mother should dress or live. We have somehow got programmed to support and side with the abuser or perpetrator rather than with the abused. Accepting the hooliganism of February 14 projects the similar mindset of a Godman who had said the December 16 rape victim of Delhi should have shown more love and addressed her rapists as “brothers”. When the police fail to react to the uncontrolled behavior of such rowdy gangs it portends ill not only of the safety of women but everyone else. The difference between a barbaric society and the civilization of today is wafer thin. This pision is primarily noticed only when the police and legal system operate in an efficient and fair manner. This pision is obviously termed civilization because it signifies law and order where a common citizen is allowed to live life peacefully and without hindrance.

Here in India and especially in Orissa we seem to be creating a set of rules that apply selectively. For instance, women are asked to behave in a certain manner to avoid getting raped or molested. Yet, we do not create guidelines that will discourage the unruly men from exceeding the limits. It is said that while the perpetrator of a crime is anti-social, those who knowingly tolerate the commission of that same crime are equally at fault and also punishable. A thief commits a crime by stealing. The person who accepts that stolen property is also considered a criminal in the eyes of the law. These stick brandishing headband wearing gangs were allowed to have their sway on the streets of the capital city while the police were eerily absent behind billboards preaching girls not to tolerate eve teasing. Interestingly, so-called activists have stayed quiet over these attacks on girls, preferring to carry out signature campaigns and the like for women’s safety.

It is a matter of great shame that all of us meekly and maybe even happily accept the rising force of these dangerous elements while the police does not even bother to restrain it. The ill effects of this tolerance of evil will not stay limited to harassing couples. It will intrude into everyone’s life in the near future.