Dinesh Kamath's Editorial (Clean the system) that was published in Newsband

Clean the system

A mob of men molest a minor schoolgirl, stripping her and beating her by turns in the middle of a busy downtown street. This takes place barely a kilometre from Assam’s State secretariat and in full view of many. This is an indication of deteriorating law and order situation in Guwahati. What has gone so horribly wrong in our society? The sheer savagery of the gang molestation has fuelled outrage across the country even as it has triggered a sense of national shame. The Assam police took a full 30 minutes to arrive at the crime scene. The onlookers passively watched the mortification of the schoolgirl.

We live in a time when crimes against women are growing alarmingly. The data also clearly reveals that over the last couple of decades, the (reported) incidents of rape have increased at a far steeper rate than other serious crimes such as murder and theft.

The plight of this young girl when being mobbed and stripped is very pathetic. Whatever the provocation or whatever cheap thrills this mob of hooligans were seeking, the mindset of such thugs merits medical attention. The performance of the police and the Government in Assam too has been shocking. Unfortunately, after each incident like this against women the issue is hotly debated and then life is back to normal. The outrage after women were attacked by thugs in a pub in Mysore was brushed under the carpet because the mob was playing their Hindutva card.

Treating the issue as something banal will be wrong and finding of some intelligent solution to this major problem is necessary. It is necessary for the government to do something drastic to ensure social security for women.

The ghastly episode is an indicator of the sick mindset of the Indian male-dominated society. Are we really living in the twenty-first century or does our mindset still belong to the medieval era?

In spite of being a predominantly god fearing country and respect for mothers and sisters being instilled in the psyche yet it is most horrendous to see such acts of hooliganism all committed with the secured feeling of getting scot free. The feeling of "Nobody will know" dominates the minds of such misguided persons who take law into their own hands. The political class chooses to look aside so as not to disturb their vote banks. The media too is guilty of promoting programs reflecting superstitious beliefs and propitiating gods on the advice of godmen to atone for assumed sins. We need to develop a scientific temper. The nation needs to do some serious soul searching for a better tomorrow

An outraged nation should look at itself deeper and ponder about the root cause rather than these symptoms. We have long stopped caring about the all-round decay that has set into all parts of the system - whether it is police, law, judiciary, government - you name it. Our system badly needs to be totally cleaned. But who will do the cleaning work? That’s the question!