Pub Culture and Traditional Indian Values

The news channels on the TV are full of the images of the mindless violence on innocent girls in a pub in Mangalore. My niece, Sneha condemns the use of the words:"brutal attack on girls", because the animals have better sense and kindness than the humans. This is absolutely true.

There have been many debates and discussions about "Pub Culture" and how we Indians must react to this. Voices have been raised as to whether this is going to erode the values of the traditional Indian culture or not. There are spokesmen in both the major political parties, Congress and the B.J.P. who have expressed their opinions on the subject. Some of them support the view that 'pub culture' should not be encouraged, while others have opposed this.

I would like to know if this is such an important matter and if young men and women go to the pubs, will the Indian culture be ruined. Only the hypocrites will say that the traditional values of Indian culture still exist. Those values have disappeared. Indians used to respect their parents, their teachers, their doctors and their lawyers. It is no more the case. While elderly parents are neglected and sent away to "Senior Citizens Homes", because their children just do not care for them, many of the present teachers, the doctors and the lawyers have betrayed the confidence we had placed on them. They have turned out to be utterly selfish. Evils such as child abuse ( by even the members of the same family) , child marriages, dowry deaths, discrimination against women, eve teasing, untouchability, linguistic and regional chauvinism have multiplied during the previous decades. These have been mainly due to the politicians, who have neglected the essential factors and have focussed on collecting vote banks. Frankly, I am ashamed to talk about "Indian Culture". It has become a nasty cesspool. We do not have to go deep down into the cesspool to know that it stinks.

Now many "senas" have come out into the open. The Sri Ram Sena is responsible for the Mangalore pub attack. Raj Thackeray's M.N.S. has been creating violence against the North Indians and others. There are many more such organizations involved in violence against other groups, as had happened in Orissa and elsewhere. There is a method in all these programmes. What they want is publicity. Many other people are attracted to these perverse ideologies and these "senas" are becoming more and more powerful. We had not heard about the Sri Ram Sena before, but now I am afraid that this particular outfit will benefit by the publicity it has got and the membership of this one will swell in the near future. The state and the central govenments, who must maintain law and order in the country, are tongue-tied and incapable of strict and timely action against these organizations. They are looking for more vote banks in the coming elections.

Law and The Seven Year Itch

Do you have a criminal mind? Would you like to have your enemy 'bumped off' by a hit-and-run accident? Soon you can do many such activities, thanks to the amended Criminal Procedure Code Bill passed by the Lok Sabha on December 23, 2008. This Bill was passed along with seven other Bills within 17 minutes without debate or discussion. Why waste time for such frivolities! This Bill prevents the police from arresting a person who is accused of committing a crime that carries a sentence of seven years in prison. Offenses like attempt to culpable homicide, voluntarily causing grievous hurt, outraging the modesty of a woman or cheating (Sec. 420 of IPC) belong to this category. All these offenses attract a prison sentence of less than seven years. The Seven Year Itch, indeed!
In such cases, the police will issue a 'notice of appearance' to the accused, who will be expected to 'cooperate' with the investigating agency. Only if the accused fails to respond to the notice of appearance and does not 'cooperate' with the investigation, the police will think of arresting him or her. This gives the accused the time to destroy all evidence and to get away as far as possible from the police. "We can see to it later", will be his or her intention. The Law does not any longer have a "long arm". This will also help the accused to 'negotiate terms' (read bribes) with the police so that he can go scotfree.
The criminal can choose a safer mode of operation. Instead of killing a person straightaway, he can attempt to eliminate him by a hit-and run accident. Many such 'accidents' happen on the roads of Delhi, Mumbai and other cities. In this case, the prison sentence is less than seven years. Instead of committing rape, a rapist can threaten or induce a woman to have sex with him. This offence (Sec. 376 B) carries a sentence of only five years, while the sentence for rape can be for ten or more years. The person who commits this offence cannot be arrested rightaway. Later, he can blackmail or threaten the woman to drop the charges levelled against him. He can get help from a few politicians or even from the police, who want the number of crimes committed in their state at a low level. "Our state has the lowest rank in crimes" is the cry of the politicians.
The criminal-minded can have a "Ready Reckoner" of the IPC to find out which are the offences that carry a sentence of less than seven years and commit them with impunity.
I was under the impression that our Members of Parliament are intelligent and learned persons who want to legislate for the welfare of common people. When so many debates and discussions are going about the activitiries of terrorists - "stateless actors"from another country they may be -, how safe are we from our own criminals?