We are Appalled, but not moved!
‘Shocked’ would be a mild word to describe the amount of panic that gripped the entire Kashmir valley in view of the gruesome and barbaric rape of a minor in Bandipora area of North Kashmir. The brutal rape case is one among such shocking incidents that very person feels ashamed of being part of a society which has such pedophile looming large and walking free.
The reaction is genuine and expected as people are protesting across the valley and want the rapist to be brought to justice.
However, notwithstanding all this, I fail to understand why some people are pelting stones on security establishments and indulging in violent protests. Why is state - the only entity against which we vent our anger or frustration every time, when anything happens in our society? The beast, savage and culprit is produced by us and is among us. We need to talk about our society, culture, ethos and values collectively and introspect. More importantly, we need to correct ourselves, what went wrong and where we have been losing the grip over the situation.
Rape is a crime and child rape is beyond crime- we all must remember.
In the era of globalization where we live in a global village, we grasp things from different places. Commodifying and objectifying women’s body, exposure to nudity, item songs, pornography and erotic content, are among the other main factors responsible for such heinous incidents. A person is exposed to vulgar, unethical and immoral content from a very tender age. These very things shape the brain of a person. There is a saying; a person is what he reads, what he watches, and what he engages in.
Let’s be honest. Our society, culture, ethos and values have changed. Parents have no control over their children as children are not used to enjoying absolute liberty. The unfortunate reality is that parents and family are not interested in teaching a child from tender age about gender, sex, respecting modesty of women, good touch, bad touch and sex education. In these circumstances, how can one expect the development of personality and humanness in a person? When a parent and family leave a child on his own, without teaching him morals, ethics, fear of God among other things, he is more likely to develop qualities of savagery, barbarity, ill-mentality.
We are living in an era where there is a concept among some of the parents that they have a child, invest in him whatever they have earned in life and get profit in return like a property or material. Shaping personality of a child has taken a back seat and materialism is the order of the day. Morality, ethics, sanity, respect for each other coexistence and honor are not things of the past while speed, pace, progress, growth, self interests etc have gained great currency.
Author is a 3rd year Law student at School of Legal Studies, Central University of Kashmir. He can be reached at: abrar_reyaz@live.com
