BAAPU : WHEN YOU GOT MORE PAIN ?

   To pay grief on the death anniversary of Mohandas Gandhi, every govt. employee has been ordained to stand-up in silence at-least for 2 minutes unless they will be a victim of violence guised in the form of some disciplinary actions against the violators.

   Every year on this very day a common dictum is reiterated with a handsome magnitude of clamor "de di humein azadi bina khadag bina dhaal" and in the same scenario the reckoning of nuclear power & other mass destructive weapons (MDWs) are well praised in parallel. Countrymen are being falsely motivated that not even a single drop of vital fluid has been cost to get the so called freedom, it seems as the Britishers have given it in the form of a gift to us in a spruced plate. Everyone knows that Britishers had send the bust of the son of the Hero of 1857-revolution as a breakfast to Bahadurshah Jafar, everyone knows that every mountain transformed into volcano & every rubble became ember after the martyrdom of Mangal Pande, everyone knows this freedom has been gained at the cost of the lives of Laxmi Bai, Tantya tope, Nana-Ji, Jhalkari Bai & many more offspring of this nation.

   Those who say that our freedom is a sole product of non-violence might not have visited "Jaliya-wala Baagh" the land doused with the innocent blood. Such people deny the daunting jobs performed by the Udham Singh who followed general Dyre up-to London to have a revenge of the massacre, Madan-Lal Dhingra who advocated in favor of Govt of India in the bench of London, Khudiram Bose who sacrificed his entire family. These people might be unaware of the magnitude of suffocation felt by Bhagat Singh, Rajguru & Sukhdev when their throats were knotted by those slavery ropes. Those who just fulfill the formal rituals of delivering hyperbolic speeches to pay homage to the martyrs of freedom perhaps forgotten that epic when Azad Hind Fauz was approaching towards Manipur from Burma & every soldier had to investiturate every single inch of land with their blood because their final destination was Delhi where they had to hoist the national flag of their own country.

   By the time of Rajghat ceremony, doordarshan will might have flashed the slogan "sunday ho ya monday roz khao ande". After putting one or two flowers on the Rajghat & after delivering a moral tribute in front of the camera, a number of V.I.Ps including some ascendant politicians, will proceed for having their lunch in which some fish & chickens have been already prepared by renowned cooking expertise. The liquor to which Mohandas Gandhi wished to annihilate just prior to the hours of freedom is a well established industry under the purview of govt. policies after the freedom & is a source of one of the major inflows to the revenue.

   Baapu ! you are revered at the paradox in this country & truth & non-violence are nothing but the synonyms of your name, you are requested to speak once more again, but you can't speak bcz you are clinically dead now, your vocal chord is no more in functioning, perhaps you might have not been able to see all these corrupt atmosphere where one makes his confronters silent on the edge of canons, though you might not  have remained silent for a long time but when you have uttered against all these, you would have been exiled.

   Please tell me when you felt more pain ? in 1948 when your chest received those three bullets or when you see the gruesome murder of your principles?, when you see a father selling his daughter to provide financial stability to the family?, when kitty- parties by the elites are cheered with imported scotch by the money of those poor who kept faith over their ballot?, when you see the people dying for cold & hunger....please Baapu speak ! when you got more pain ?

HONOR KILLING IN INDIA

   Bevacizumab the latest "Life Saving Drug" for cancer patients discovered by the medicinal researchers.... Kuwaiti prime minister Sheik Nasser Al Mohammed Al Sabah arrived in Baghdad- the first visit by a Kuwaiti prime minister since the 1991 Gulf war.... Russian parliament agrees with United States to ratify new START treaty......two Koreas restore hot line despite tension..........these are some of the recent news which strongly pave the way towards the World-Peace & human welfare but it doesn't ensure that everything is on the right track, the good has always been accompanied with the bad, so is here, out of a plenty non-social & inhumane issues "honor killing" subsists with an effective magnitude in the society.
 
   When you take your morning news-paper from the doorstep & settle down to read, you will find that incidents pertaining to honor killings in India are either in the headlines or in the pages thereafter every-day. Stringent Indian laws on honor killing s fail to curb the increasing trend. Interestingly, honor killings happen, irrespective of a person's religion or social-status. Every year over 5000 brides are killed for dowry in India. In 2009, approximately 955 cases were registered as honor killings (imagine what the unofficial statistics must be really like). The worst affected region in India is Mijaffarnagar (U.P.), with 25% of honor killing in official police reports.

   Indian laws do not treat honor killing in a specific or separate clause. To explain it simply, honor killing is when a person is killed by his/her family members or relatives because it is believed that the victim has brought dishonor, shame or humiliation to the family or the community which may include-
1. Refusing to marry someone chosen by their family.
2. Having an affair.
3. Demanding a divorce, even in an abusive relationship.
4. Talking or flirting with an unrelated male.
5. Not following a strict dress-code............& many more.

   Typically the police investigate the honor killings but we still live in a society where we have learned to segregate people on the basis of social status, economic standards, religion & caste. Community mentality reside over trifle stuffs - an individual is identified by his caste and status rather than by anything else. The extent of orthodox in the Indian society is still a paradox and has become reluctant to those who think of the modernization resulting in the bifurcation of the society. Khap Panchayat is one such reluctant community which prohibits a person from marrying another one from the same village (more specifically from the same gotras). As news stories prove, anyone who tries to break these rules are penalized through social boycotts and fines. They may also be killed (honor killing) or compelled to commit suicide in extreme cases. A handful of people who constitute the Khap Panchayat decide and control the lives of people, especially young couples, in the community. Khap Panchayats draw their strength from people who support them given their neutral, expedient dispute settlement, as compared to the years of delays in the courts. The govt. of India has failed to take any concrete steps against the Khap Panchayats.

   One would wonder if things have significantly changed in India post independence, which was about six decades ago. We got attention towards scientific, economic, technological and infrastructural advancements the country has shown over the years. Alas ! the package doesn't sound interesting, especially, after knowing well "what lies beneath" (remind of a woman who loves wearing expensive make-up on her face without realizing that she needs to pay more attention to her health to stay healthy and thus naturally beautiful). It's sad to see that nothing much has changed socially, in-fact, decades back, society was divided only on the basis of caste, but today multiple factors are responsible for the social disparity. In modern India, it's hard to find a person who would see himself only as an "Indian". What has emerged after all those years of hard work, sacrifices and bloodsheds during the pre-independence era, is a totally chaotic modern society where people discriminate on the basis of race, color, culture, gender, status, religion and economic standards, which is worser than being divided only on the basis of caste, as earlier.

   Though, the Indian govt. has decided to amend the Indian Penal Code (IPC) to ensure that honor killings are treated as a separate offence so as to provide deterrent punishment to the perpetrators, the problem is that investigation of this offence may not make any progress because the victim's family is usually responsible for it, and therefore, keep the actual facts concealed and without the evidence, nothing can be done by the courts to deliver a fair judgement. The only way to annihilate this demonic curse is to propagate the awareness in the public about the issue, to transform their basic-instincts regarding the vehement principles & embrace the vitality of life, to diffuse the aroma of peace in the society and most of the all to make them understand that there is no honor in killing.