THE OTHER SIDE: November 2017

Kho Rahe Hain Taare Zameen Par!

Image source : Hindustan Times

A four year old boy is accused of sexually assaulting his classmate who is also his age in school classroom and washroom in a reputed Delhi school. The news is more saddening than shocking looking at the age of the victim & accused. When Delhi police is concerned about how to deal with the case because according to section 82 of Indian Penal Code nothing done by a child below seven years of age can be considered an offence I am concerned about what prompted that child to do this.

Experts asserts that child of this age don’t understand sexual behavior than what prompted him to unbutton a girl and touch her private parts with fingers and sharpened pencil. Who is responsible for this behavior of a child? He must be reenacting something he has watched. So what environment we are giving our children to grow. Isn’t bad parenting also the reason for this?

Parents has full faith in schools and the incidents like murder of seven year old boy Pradyuman by a senior student and then this sexual assault by a 4 year old boy of his classmate is breaching that trust. If school promised full scrutiny of children either by teachers or help staff everywhere in the school premises than how such incidents is possible? How two students of a junior class left alone in the classroom and why no one noticed a boy in girl’s washroom? It is negligence & lethargy on part of school.

Parents & schools need to coordinate together in giving fearless, free environment to the children. I am still unable to understand why a 4 year child acted that way. He must be counseled and the reason for his behavior should be made public for other parents to understand their mistakes. The incident is disturbing for us as a society also. We are so much detached to our children to understand and aware of things going inside their innocent minds.

He is anyway a child. Does he understand what he did? Is giving any punishment to him solve the purpose? His thoughts must be scrutinized and the issue must be dealt sensibility. We should have cordial relationship with our children to know them fully. I am not a parent but still hurt and disturbed from this news and knew many like me would be concerned with this incident. This is a warning sign and we must take it seriously to know where we are going wrong as a parent, school and society.

Ek Judge Ki Maut!

If this news can’t raise your eyebrows and instill fear in you nothing can. If a judge constitutionally responsible for giving justice and who has and the people around him have some protocols to follow died in such a mysterious way how much our lives are important? I am talking about the recent story of The Caravan Magazine by journalist Niranjan Takle of death of Judge Brijgopal Harkishan Loya who was presiding over Sohrabuddin Encounter Trial in which BJP President Amit Shah was an accused then because after his death on 1st December 2014 Amit Shah was removed from all the charges by the new judge on 30th December 2014.

Neither I nor the report accusing anybody but the procedure followed and things happened after his death. It was reported that he was died of a cardiac arrest while he has no previous history of any heart ailment. Secondly his postmortem was conducted without informing his family about his death and his body was taken to his village instead of Mumbai where he lived with his wife & son. Nobody knows why this happen and nobody ever ordered any inquiry in the matter. There are many other things which was neglected or not probed by any agency. Many questions are unanswered like:

Why police or any other person informed justice Loya's family about his death?
A person claiming his cousin (Chachera Bhai) who signed his postmortem report and claimed body from the hospital is not known to the family. Who was he? Where was he when Loya's body reached his village?
Why only Judge's driver transported body alone to his village? Where were other two judges accompanied him to the marriage of a fellow judge's daughter in Nagpur?
Why Justice Loya's shirt has blood stain on it?
No police report, no panchnama. Why?
How an RSS worker was aware of the death and what was his role in all this.
Why from a VIP lodge of Nagpur where he was staying along with many other high profile guests he was carried to hospital in an auto rickshaw?
Who suggested that hospital which have non working ECG unit?

These and many other points are raised by the family in conversation to the journalist which you can read in the detail report here. (A Family Breaks Its Silence: Shocking Details Emerge In Death Of Judge Presiding Over Sohrabuddin Trial). My question is to the silence of media who was discussing ‘Padmavati’ on prime time in their Newsrooms with none other than Karni Sena. My question is also to the Supreme Court and other courts that are silent on the suspicious death of their fellow judge. We have watched this happen in movies where people who were against some politician or party leader were either killed or threatened to silence or bribed. We have the right to know what has happened in this case.

Who killed justice Loya? Because from the way all things take place it is clearly not a simple case of heart attack death but something more suspicious, mysterious and doubtful. Those who are reading this must read the detailed Caravan Magazine story which is available in both Hindi & English and must react to the incident not just to ensure Justice Loya’s family that we are with them but to ensure ourselves that Victory lies ahead of fear.

Reality and Rating

Job creation is at all time low, small business are gasping for breath, Make in India has not shown any significant investment and projects like Skill India and Startup India failed to benefited those for which it was made. Malnutrition deaths are on the rise because after Aadhar linking, only one whose thumb impression is registered is eligible to receive food but when they are bed ridden or thumb mark is unacceptable by the machine for any reason they are unable to get these items. Farmers’ suicide is also on rise but what they are boosting is their improvement in Moody’s rating.

I would be more than happy if reality somewhere matched that rating or even there is talk in nation about some development or human life improvement programs. Sadly what the nation is concerned about right now is history of Padmavati and whether our government should let this movie run or ban it. Other concerns include Ram Mandir (favorite election issue for more almost 30 years now), Triple Talaq, Hardik Patel sex CD, etc. More shocking is absence of ‘Development Model’ from the election of that state which gave us a Prime Minister who only boosted ‘Gujarat Model ‘of development.

It is disheartening that businesses are going down, jobs are not generating and the nation is run by futile Whatsapp and Facebook propaganda. Many people actually believe the rumors spread through these social media platform as true which is further deepening the divide between Hindus and Others (as they called to Muslims and Christian). I know my small article won’t change anything but I will keep on sharing my grief on national integrity breaking to put forth my concerns. Till next post God Bless India.

Amritsar & Wagah Border Trip

Amritsar is the city of Golden Temple the sacred pilgrimage for Sikhs. The area around is recently developed beautifully to promote tourism by renovating it with related themes and including some modern day structures which compliment the place nicely. Historical Jalianwala Bagh where Britishers fired mercilessly on innocent Indians also lies in that area and it now has a monument as a remembrance to those who killed in that massacre. Another important thing in the area is Partition Museum build inside Town Hall which encloses memories of partition with having things donated by people effected by the tragedy along with the historical accounts of that time. But photography is not allowed inside the museum.

Monument build outside Jalianwala Bagh

Memorial inside Jalianwala Bagh

Well in which people jumped to escape death but instead died.

Wall with Bullet holes marked with white paint.

Newly developed market.

Raja Ranjit Singh's Statue.

I also visited Ranjit Singh Panorama Museum which housed weapons of Ranjit Singh army and has some depictions of Raja Ranjit Singh's life through painting and models. There is also Gobindgarh Fort which you must visit for the 7D film on life of Raja Ranjit Singh and other cultural activities. Finally I went to Wagah Border by auto that took only Rs 120 for to and fro from Wagah border which I think is reasonable looking at the time they wait. Even if you reach early you can't get the best seats which is reserved for VIPs. I hate this culture even in a place controlled by Indian army.

Town Hall having Partition Museum

Zamzama - Canon at Gobind Garh Fort

Statue showing Khalsa Martial Art

Gobindgarh Fort from outside

Raja Ranjit Singh Panorama Museum

Model showing Gold covering of Harmandir Sahib

Pakistan side is clearly visible from the place I was seating. The patriotic flavor of the area is unmatched with patriotic songs and then beating retreat by the soldiers. You can have glimpse of both the sides if sitting at a suitable place. The beating retreat ceremony ended when both the sides take down there flags. That was a beautiful experience. I have some pictures of all the places which were allowing photography which I have shared here.

Wagah border visitors stand

Border gate

Closed border gates