Musings of 1084

Delhi has got used to shocking news nowadays. Hence it wasn’t of much shocking to hear one Pushpam Kumar Sinha, a PhD scholar working on wave mechanics at IIT Delhi assaulted, strangled and burnt 19-year old Manipuri girl. Indian english media raised its eye brows exclaiming at an IIT-ian turning in to a cold blooded murderer. So how come a ‘gentle genius’, that’s what his relatives say, turned in to a killer overnight? The events that led to fateful night seem to be simple.

Police said that on Saturday around 4.30 p.m., Pushpam Kumar Sinha found that the girl was alone in the house. He entered the kitchen where she was and made advances towards her. When she protested, he got scared and strangled her to death.

“He feared that the girl would report about him to others and he would face police action. He then torched her face. But because of the fire, her torso also suffered 30 percent burn injuries” Dhaliwal said.

Earlier, the police thought it was a case of accidental fire. However, the post-mortem examination revealed that she did not die of burns but had been strangulated.

Dhaliwal said the girl`s sister Timila, who works in a Delhi restaurant, had during the investigations raised suspicions about her next door neighbour Sinha.

“Timila said he was trying to befriend her sister but there was never any occasion when she had made any complaint about him. On Diwali they had burnt fire crackers together, so he mistakenly thought that she was attracted to him” Dhaliwal said.

The usual thinking of the Indian male is Hasi toh Phasi!(if she laughs, then she is trapped) Police now claims he had mental disorders as if they hold degrees in psychology. we are not sure of this Obsessive Compulsive Disorder theory will really help or harm the accused. But whatever the name you put it, the otherwise enviable IITian, educated urban younster is yet another ‘victim’ of the same Hasi toh Phasi syndrome. This incident also proves that the education without imparting basic human values is futile.

The growing trend of crass consumerist culture which is shaping the urban male in to a robot who only gets excited to gizmos, girls and cash and the commodification of women by the Indian cinema which is being aired 24/7 from all the directions are the social causes for all these kind of unimaginable, inhuman excesses. There are more Sinhas and Shiney ahujas amongst us who are continuing to be ‘gentle genius’ for the simple fact that they haven’t got the opportunity.

Other than the sexual aspect, the racist aspect also plays a deep role in this episode. Indians who raise hue and cry over Australian racism are in reality very good at perpetrating racism on their fellow country men and women. Leave the centuries and centuries of caste oppression and untouchability system which still continues, the racism and bias towards north eastern people in recent times are reaching its heights.

A survey by the centre shows that 86% (or 86,000) of people from the northeast in Delhi face some or the other sort of discrimination on a daily basis. Sixteen severe cases of molestation, rape and brutality against people from the northeast were recorded in Delhi this year. Four of these took place in the last fortnight. They include Hongray’s murder, molestation of an Arunachal girl by school boys, molestation of a Naga girl and beating up of a Naga couple.

Kamakshi Sinha of Assam, who is pursuing an undergraduate course in DU, says, “The police circular is just a piece of paper. People call us ‘Chinky’ and other names, but the police laugh when we go and complain”Most girls from the region are even scared of approaching the police. “Many cases have come up where the police do not respond to our cries. We are treated like outcasts” said Priyadarshini Nath, a DU student.

“We are often blamed for dressing provocatively and inviting trouble. A week ago, some men punctured the car tyres of a Naga couple and beat them up. The police blamed the Naga couple for the incident” Nath said. For safety’s sake they live together in groups. But they are called names when they venture out. “People view us as objects of sexual abuse only because we look different and wear western outfits. It’s like our community versus theirs and we feel we can never intermingle” Kamakshi said.

Agatha Sangma, Minister of State for Rural Developmet and the youngest member of parliament had say with despair, that incidents of women from the north east being molested in Delhi has been quite rampant. The situation in Delhi has been disgraceful, she said.

Manipur and other north eastern states are burning for the last 50 years for the ‘crime’ of raising self determination demands. Indian state is crushing the lives of Manipuris with an iron fist saying they shouldn’t ask for secession at one hand. On the other hand, proud indians are mocking at them and at times murdering them calling Chinkies. Wonder what’s the option left?

This sad episode reminds me the forgotten Irom Sharmila whose hungerfast is entering the tenth year, yes it’s not a joke, the tenth year, this november. One more corpse from delhi is certainly reiterating with force, the cause for which Irom fights for.