Ideally, I should not have been happy to read this news. It's about death. about death of a human being. About death of a man in police custody. Does death in judicial custody not bring out anger in us? It does. But not this time. I am sorry. I am surprised with myself. But, I am happy to know, this guy Mohana Krishnan who was a cabbie in Coimbatore was killed in a police encounter two days back.
Was it a conspiracy? Or the alleged "act of self-defence" by the police officers? or the Robin Hood act? I don't know. But as a citizen of this country, where there is a general feeling of hopelessness in the law and order situation, I am happy. As a mother, I am happy. As a woman I am happy. But believe me, as I type this, there is no smile on my face, because as a human being, somewhere I am pained by this man's death, because ultimately he was a human being, who had even requested his doctor for a lethal injection during the medical examination just 2-3 days before his death in this shoot out, when he allegedly snatched the revolver of one the police inspectors and shot him.
I share my happiness of this fast track justice with those many cab drivers and auto rickshaw drivers and the people of Coimbatore who celebrated his death by distributing sweets. Of course, they had a reason to be happy. After all, this man had brought a bad name to their profession.
Mohana Krishnan, a 23 year old cab driver, who worked as a school van driver for a few days, picked up two children, a 10 year old girl and her younger brother before their usual school van arrived. He had originally planned to abduct the kids for ransom, but later developed cold feet. He tortured the children, raped the little girl and later threw the helpless innocent children in a canal near Tirumurthy dam, 77 kms from Coimbatore. He was helped by another tractor driver. This is such a ghastly act. How can we be so intoxicated with greed, with lust that we are unable to understand how helpless a child is? Were we not children once.... does that memory also does not scare these animals when they decide to do such ghastly acts against little angles??
This man, died in police custody, while he was being taken to another place (the reasons behind his movement at the early hour is unclear). Police says that this guy snatched a revolver and was almost on a shooting spree, when they had to kill him in self defence. As expected, there is an enquiry into this matter. (Thankfully, a small news in one corner of the newspaper, and not the front page, mentioned about it today, or else I would called it displaced sense of priority or sensitivity). Now, the Human Rights people may also raise their voice on custodial death. May be they have a point, yes they have a point, as whether a person is guilty or not is decided by judiciary and not the law enforcing agency ie Police.
But, do you know, a similar case happened in Delhi just one odd month back. A school van driver, again a young man, used to sexually exploit three siblings - one girl and two boys, all between 6 to 12 years age (as far as I remember), the girl being the eldest. This man, on the pretext of picking these kids up for school would take them to some houses, where he had access and would rape the girl and sodomise the boys. The kids were drugged every time. They got used to the material abuse.
All this continued for almost two years. I am aghast to think about it. The kids were too scared as the man allegedly had made MMS of the three kids in objectionable condition and had threatened to kill them as well. The pitiable part is that their widowed mother was a working woman, living alone with kids in Delhi, and she could never realise, that the children are not reaching school for many a days. The kids, specially the girl started withdrawing herself and showed change in behaviour, of course the drug had physiological effect on all three of the kids.
It shocked me and pained me, as everyday, the update on this kept coming. Just another day, I read that, this man guilty of drugging and sexually exploiting poor and helpless kids had been arrested.
Now, does it make us content? Does taking somebody to custody is punishment enough? Will he be tried? or will he manage to unshackle himself, courtesy some who's who of the power capital Delhi? Will the children, who had to be put in a rehabilitation centre to get out of habit of drugs, would ever live a normal, healthy life? This scar in their innocent minds will pain them all their lives.
And if the the situation goes bad, in all likelihood, we are witnessing the making of another rapist, another abductor, another thief, another molestor. Will he be or for that matter, they be feeling guilty of what they are doing..... when they grow up? NO. because they would be giving back the society what they got. They had their childhood trampled under a pair of filthy boots, they are going to give the filth back on the face of their world, their families, their relationships and anybody who comes in touch with them.
However, education can help, counselling can help, but a bad memory of childhood moulds us, moulds our psyche and our being.
There is a need for us, parents, us guardians, and teachers and people to preserve the childhood of not just our children but children, in general. The channel of communication with our kids should always be open to know what they are experiencing. Parents need to be more sensitive and perceptive with small children, as they don't even know how to express things. We have a huge role to play in this increasingly unsafe world. Also, please try to think beyond my kid, my home, my family mentality. We get affected because overall, situations go bad, and we keep our eyes shut saying, this has not happened to me. It's time we stop being selfish.
Meanwhile, the accidental shoot out or encounter, whatever you call it, this quick justice is making me feel good...... mmmm bad..... well a mixed feeling.
How do you feel about it? let me know.
RESTLESS
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"OK, alright, yes he abducted another man's wife but did not force himself. He fought a fair war for what he thought was right in his eyes. After all, women were used for political reasons like commodities (defeated kings offering their daughters for marriage to the winner etc). Also, I fail to understand why Laxman is in no one's bad books for slashing the nose of a (demon) young girl, who showed interest in him?!! When women could be won, or lost, or earned, or whatever then why, in that era, such hue and cry for stealing a woman? From that point of view, what should be the punishment for raping one's own daughter? Should THEIR effigies not burnt then? Raavan, still, had the courage to fight, actually fight a war for that woman (how flattering is that now !!!)"
But I was pained, as always. Seeing him stand there, at the mercy of people, common men and women, who themselves don't understand the meaning of the festival. For them, he is the demon, but nobody will think how was Ram as a husband and as a father. Was a woman called Sita wronged somewhere? Who's bothered. I hear some new TV serial is coming called "Ganga ki Dheej", (what does that mean?) which also talks how can a woman give proof of her purity. Uff! I have no words. All this just defies logic for me.
