Has honour and respect become so important that individuals have resorted to brutal ways to take revenge? The murder of 25-year-old Pallavi Purkayastha by her building watchman for rebuking him is just the latest instance in the series of incidents of brutal revenge taken for humiliation.
What makes people take such an immense step towards those who have hurt their pride and ego? Today everyone is led by impulse and instant gratification of desires in this fast-paced life. Often we do not think of the consequences of our actions. Having confessed to the murder as soon as he was questioned, it becomes evident that that the 28-year-old Sajjad Pathan did not have the veins of a killer. He had come far from home and was doing an unexciting and dull job. Feeling disgraced, he was so consumed by embarrassment that the only let out for him was vengeance.
Now, his whole life is shattered, at least for a really long time, he is going to go to prison, face exorbitantly more humiliation than he could handle. Before that, he will face a trial for which he might not even have enough money. He has to now become thick-skinned and have nerves of steel or else, survival is difficult.
This is not an isolated incident: it reflects a rising trend in recent years. People, mostly juvenile or young, cannot stand disgrace, especially by those who appear to be superior to them. A Chennai high school student had stabbed his teacher earlier this year for writing demoralising remarks in his diary for failing in Hindi. Another 15-year-old in Delhi stabbed his neighbours over ₹50 that he had borrowed from them and felt shamed when they chided him for not returning the money. Another school student in Chandigarh stabbed his classmate with a paper-cutter for post a cropped picture of himself with a girl.
The ‘safe’ premises of home and school are not secure anymore. One has to be very careful and conscious of their words and actions. For it cannot be known when you have struck a delicate chord with anyone.
Also, these incidents show that you cannot trust your acquaintances. Help in this country is so slow and inefficient that the onus is upon the people to empower themselves. Whatever the swiftness at catching the culprit after an incident has occurred, many-a-times, during molestation, rape or murder cases, the crime is often not prevented even though there are police personnel stationed across the cities.
Life is too short, literally, to consume in the embarrassment or humiliation by others, especially those who do not even matter in the long haul. Some thought and consideration of incidents will make one realise what actually matters, and what should be cleansed out of the mind.
Abhiruchi Chatterjee
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