2018 has been an year filled with incidents of severe offences, offences that have shuddered the very sense of humanity in this country. These crimes have not only united us to some extent but have also encouraged a little curiosity in the citizens to know about law and the legal implications of the actions. However, one issue that has also arisen in all of the protests, social media outrages and the candle light marches, is the lack of information and the censored opinions within the people.
The youth of the country have always been active and work with a mindset of bringing a change in the world. But given that the most participation that we see from these people, is on Twitter or Facebook or other such social networking sites, makes one wonder whether it is enough?
Further, this is not the only difficulty that we have been facing as a Nation. From fake news reports to suppressing politicians to silencing threats, there is a lot going on, which is far from being controlled. And this can be observed while the news of the Kathua rape case being a faux pas is taking rounds in the media.
What is intriguing is that even when the person on the other side of the account has a lot of opinions to share on his page, he or she is well aware of what information is to be withheld in order to save her or him from receiving death threats or worse, rape threats. And it is not just the fear that stops us, but our blatant ignorance of half of the facts of the case, which could be seen after many people requested others to refrain from giving the Kathua case, a communal face, even without researching that the reason for that minor being brutally raped was her religion.
Further, what is more infuriating is that some of us have given so much importance to our religious ideologies that we have gained such levels of chauvinism so as to forget the rights and wrongs within our actions, and this is stated while referring to the lawyers and citizens who preferred to march with tirangas in their hands, in order to support the rapists, rather than helping the victim, in obtaining justice.
The truth that underlies the entire point of this article is that even when these online outrages, candle light marches and silent protests may start a much needed discussion into the deteriorating condition of our country, it is high time that we realize that we are living in a place where the Sanatan Sanstha is still blindly supporting Asaram Bapu, even after he has been rightly convicted of the rape of a minor girl.
A question that should arise in our minds is that are we still ready to support rapists and other criminals on the basis of their religion? Are we still ready to live in a nation, where our Constitution is superseded by our majority ideologies? Is it sufficient that we outrage about the various incidents that tremble even the stone cold souls, and refrain from actually taken actions, merely because we fear the Government of a country that claims to be a democratic one?
