Absent conscience

The brutal murder of a 16-year-old girl on Sunday near Shahbad Dairy shook the “conscience” of the entire nation. At least, this is the manner in which most wordsmiths would prefer to put a prelude to the horrifying crime. But one is compelled to ask which conscience are we referring to! The conscience with which the bystanders passively kept watching the girl being murdered, or the conscience with which political parties have started scavenging on the issue? As a matter of fact, the “conscience” looks catchy in proverbial terms while giving only a reflection of irony in reality. It reflects — not for the first time in recent years — several dark shades of Indian society and polity. Firstly, it is an extreme manifestation of a flawed notion of love and companionship that has been prevailing in society. It is difficult to imagine a human being in love committing such a brutal crime. The discourse around such issues in society remains largely absent, conceding to a trivialised acceptance of the ongoing social change. Be it the films or web series, an increasing trend of revengeful and retaliatory sentiments can be observed. The tender notion of love seems to be giving way to something which cannot be called love for sure. This is nowhere to suggest that a tab be placed on the content of films and web series. The simple argument is that cinema has always been very quick to pick up undefined social moods and sentiments, and society needs to follow suit. The latent and raw anger underlying countless youths in India remains unacknowledged, and hence unaddressed. Impatience and intolerance among youngsters have been on the rise. This changing social mood of youngsters, compounded with a widespread prevalence of toxic relationships, has been time and again leading to shameful crimes. Those banking on the gravity of the crime in question might want to brush aside this ‘soft’ discourse and talk just about heavy-sounding aspects. The reality is that romantic relationships, besides being a pervasive phenomenon, is still considered a puffy topic. While there are enough provisions to protect marriages or the abuse that may follow afterwards, the dynamics of romantic relationships are largely unaddressed. Though not all toxic relationships may lead to consequences like in Shraddha Walker or the recent case, they all entail some form of abuse, and have the potential to take disastrous forms. It is time that travails of toxic relationships are talked about in family, with teachers and in friend circles. Lest the readers think that the reasons for the recent murder are being narrowed down to toxic relationships and changing social mood, it must be cleared that the murderer’s criminal intent or impulse is an undoubtable factor. It is a matter of investigation whether the murder was premeditated or carried out in a fit of rage. In any case, the culprit should be awarded the strictest possible punishment that the law prescribes. But there are many other guilty in this case, who cannot be booked under any law. The only thing that can bring them to justice is their ‘conscience’. The condemnable inaction of bystanders is a deep reflection of the insecurity that defines today’s self-centric, inward-looking society. Indeed, the larger political economy of a nation or region shapes the collective behaviour of its society, but that doesn’t mean that we keep conceding to the negative aspects of change without any moral resistance. While all the above-discussed aspects are purely social in nature, the political reaction, too, has been quite dismal. The AAP blamed the Lieutenant Governor for the failure of law-and-order situation in the city, even though the incident prima facie appears to be a case of personal scuffle. The BJP fell further down by invoking the element of love jihad without any evidence — giving the entire episode a religious touch. While political mudslinging is not a strange phenomenon in any nation, the question is how deep the leaders allow themselves to fall. The investigation in the Delhi murder case is proceeding at its own pace. It is obvious to expect speedy justice. However, the crime, bystanders’ response to it, and the events that followed, demand for an honest scrutiny. The underlying disturbing trends, afterall, have been recurring across various cases over the past couple of years.