Crash Of Civilisation
Two weeks ago an 11-year-old girl was locked up for several hours in her school bathroom by her cruel seniors who allegedly demanded 100 rupees from her. The incident so psychologically traumatised her that she had to be hospitalised. She died a couple of days back. A mob of hundreds of people – mostly parents and school children – went on a rampage in the premises of the school in north Calcutta’s Dum Dum area, not just hurling verbal abuses at teachers and school authorities but also physically attacking them. They picked up chairs, tables and other furniture and hurled them at the school staff, who locked themselves in rooms and hid behind cupboards. The Principal, who issued an apology from the terrace of the building was later forced by the mob to write and sign a resignation letter. It is sometimes hard to believe that Calcutta is a civilised city. The horror of three teenage girls torturing their junior for money makes one wonder if the laws protecting minors, even when they commit violent crimes should not be reviewed. It was the minor among the Delhi gang-rape convicts who was reported to be the most brutal. But more than amendments to make laws stricter, it makes one wonder why our young adults are turning increasingly violent and what can we do change this? And what about the barbarism of mob attacks? In Calcutta the public taking the law into its own hands is not a new phenomenon. Maybe they do so because they don’t have faith in the system. And maybe the young commit crimes because they are an integral part of this faithless system. Calcutta has a long way to go before it can be called civilised.