Deepak Raj
Do we need dead to awake the authorities to our day-to-day problems? Authorities who by nature of their duty are supposed to be sensitive to our problems,our grievances and our welfare. Authorities when they enter the portals of power swear by every word of the service rule book that each fullstop and comma of this document will be implemented in letter and spirit . But the circumstances as are developing in our society claim to the contrary. The insensitivity has so much seeped into the system that our normal course of approaching the authorities with pleas and requests to redress our grievances hardly works, so much so that we now need dead to awaken their conscience. Hard to believe? No. If we go by the following some incidents nothing will be left to surmise.
Mendhar June 15: On denying medical treatment, the relatives of an injured woman namely Zarina, and locals were forced to place the injured woman at the main chowk Mendhar. The people lifted the dharna only after the SDM intervened.
On Aug 12 irate people came out on the road alongwith the dead body of Sunny of village Sangwal near Gurha Salathian who was killed in a road accident on Jammu-Pathankot National Highway in Vijaypur.The people blocked the National Highway and shouted slogans against police force for its failure to arrest the culprits. The people lifted dharna only after high police officers intervened. The dharna lasted for two hours.
On Aug 17 people in Durganagar Bantalab blocked road by keeping the dead body of a woman in the middle of a chowk. They were protesting against the failure of police department to lodge an FIR against the culprit allegedly involved in moving down the woman who was walking along the road when she was hit by the teenager. The protest lasted for six hours. The people budged only when they were assured of the action in the case by a senior bureaucrat. Earlier some police officers tried to diffuse the situation by assuring the people that no one involved in the crime will be spared. But people did not take them on their word. And the stalemate continued till the bureaucrat’s intervention.
Whether the action was taken or not later on, one does not know. Only the aggrieved party knows. For the moment the situation was diffused and media attention deflected.
There are numerous instances to cite where administration failed to act well in time forcing people to hold protests, dharnas and other disruptive activities. These incidents besides causing grief to the bereaved family cause numerous social,economical problems to commanman which we do not take into consideration being unconcerned about the society. Some of the fallouts of such insensitivity are :
Assertion of group identity
One of its fallouts could be the ghettoisation of the society. Only those persons or a family can garner mass support if it enjoys a good relation with the society to which it belongs. The relationship should be of such nature that it should work at all times like the ones as narrated above. The situation as exists now shows that relationships are determined by religious, regional, caste and such other considerations. This is because the divide in the society is so deep that no person, family belonging to one religious denomination or class could secure the support of any other group in such a situation. The principle of humanity has ceased to exist in our mindset. As a corrollary to this phenomenon, one is forced to think about living in an area dominated by his co-religionists, caste or group. The polarization of society on such lines is bound to create hurdles in living in mutual coexistence. Thus the chances of binding society in one fabric are very remote. Now see the plight of the person who does not enjoy this support. He is therefore doomed to face injustice and harassment at the hands of any insensitive administration. He will have to live a life of remorse and guilt as he could not get justice to any one of his relatives or family members.
Public inconvenience
One fall out of the authorities’ callousness is the ordeal people have to go through. In this world of cut-throat competition and rising prices and inflation, people are struggling with day-to-day problems. The level of stress and strain on their lives is increasing. Add to it the agony of getting stuck in traffic jams caused by the relatives of a victim encircled around the dead body in the middle of chowk pleading and protesting for justice and bringing culprits to book. In the traffic jams there are patients crying for medical-aid , women who have to reach remote places, students who have to attend schools or go home, an employee who has to reach his office in time to attend an emergency meeting. Then calculate the loss of working hours of the people stuck in this jam. This number may vary according to the incident. The anxiety of the women who can’t reach home well in time, and the anxiety of her family members. So is the case with students.
Inconvenience to aggrieved party
The grief stricken family is subjected to further humiliation and harassment by the concerned authorities.It has to withstand pressures from the powerful lobby that is set in motion to withdraw the case /FIR or settle for compensation or say blood money. The family has further to face an embarrassing media for interviews and family view points on the matter. It has to face allegations and counter-allegations. At times the case gets politicized wherein politicians have their own axe to grind.
Loss to exchequer
To tackle the situation, the administration presses police to action. Depending upon the gravity of situation police is deployed accordingly. The deployment comes at a price. The police has to bear fuel expenses to run the fleet of vehicles, and expenses on erecting barricades and such activities the situation warrants. In case situation spins out of control, it will need further reinforcements, and more expense consequently. Who is going to foot this bill? No one shell it out from his pocket, other than the taxpayer. And here again the commonman is the victim.
Moral decadence
These incidents reek of moral decadence in society. How disgusting it is that the dead person instead of getting a dignified farewell has to get justice in an indignified manner.No civilized society can accept this treatment to its dead.
This brings us to the point that these situations could be avoided if there is action on part of the authorities well in time. In case the things do not improve, and authorities wake up to the problems of people, the situation may come to such a pass that we will need a dead to awake authorities to our petty grievances like power shortage, shortage of water and our day-to-day grievances.
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