Noida Killings
Figures from Rediff indicate that at least 17 skeletons [1] of young children have been identified in the house of a Noida suburb. Apparently, the prime accused Mr. Surender has confessed [2] that he and his employer Mr. Mahendra had abducted these kids and murdered them. More skeletons are being found [3] by further searches and the number of children who met this fate could go up. Many theories have emerged on what happened to these children before their eventual death. Theories of organ trade [4] and cannibalism have been going around [5], though the police have summarily rubbished all these claims [6]. The official line is that investigations are underway and that the police have not arrived at any conclusion. Some reports talk about the surgical precision with which the bodies of children have been cut [7]. They also so tantalizingly talk about a doctor who lives next door and who was an eventually acquitted suspect in a kidney racket that rocked his hospital a few years ago [8].
Political parties have jumped into the fray and are claiming responsibility for every single progress in this case. Big politicians visit the families of dead children. Evidently, most of these are just political stunts. Apparently more than 100 children [9] have gone missing from Kanpur in the last 5 years. Our leaders are probably not even aware of this.
I am totally ashamed of this. I am ashamed to call myself a person to be from the same country. It does not matter whether the accused are found to be guilty or whether the police find a twist in the case and find someone else to be guilty. The denouement of this case is inconsequential. The fact remains that 10 year olds have been brutally assaulted and murdered. The moral corruption in the society that this single act reflects makes me shudder. What is causing all this? Does all the so called development in the country matter when its children cannot play in the streets without fear of abduction, sexual abuse and death? Or does this development and the concomitant craze for money have an invisible hand in all this?
Figures from Rediff indicate that at least 17 skeletons [1] of young children have been identified in the house of a Noida suburb. Apparently, the prime accused Mr. Surender has confessed [2] that he and his employer Mr. Mahendra had abducted these kids and murdered them. More skeletons are being found [3] by further searches and the number of children who met this fate could go up. Many theories have emerged on what happened to these children before their eventual death. Theories of organ trade [4] and cannibalism have been going around [5], though the police have summarily rubbished all these claims [6]. The official line is that investigations are underway and that the police have not arrived at any conclusion. Some reports talk about the surgical precision with which the bodies of children have been cut [7]. They also so tantalizingly talk about a doctor who lives next door and who was an eventually acquitted suspect in a kidney racket that rocked his hospital a few years ago [8].
Political parties have jumped into the fray and are claiming responsibility for every single progress in this case. Big politicians visit the families of dead children. Evidently, most of these are just political stunts. Apparently more than 100 children [9] have gone missing from Kanpur in the last 5 years. Our leaders are probably not even aware of this.
I am totally ashamed of this. I am ashamed to call myself a person to be from the same country. It does not matter whether the accused are found to be guilty or whether the police find a twist in the case and find someone else to be guilty. The denouement of this case is inconsequential. The fact remains that 10 year olds have been brutally assaulted and murdered. The moral corruption in the society that this single act reflects makes me shudder. What is causing all this? Does all the so called development in the country matter when its children cannot play in the streets without fear of abduction, sexual abuse and death? Or does this development and the concomitant craze for money have an invisible hand in all this?
References
[1] http://in.rediff.com/news/2007/jan/02noida.htm
[2] NDTV report
[3] Report from sify
[4] Organ trade report from Hindustan times
[5] Cannibalism report from Times of India
[6] Cannibalism report from rediff
[7] Precision in killing
[8] Reports on doctor
[9] Kanpur lost children
6 comments:
Psychotic individuals do not necessarily reflect the morality of the country. A small subset. Maybe, the tardy handling of the case could be attributed to the police, but we really dont have to tie the development witnessed by the country with the brutal murders.
Countries in America and Europe have had similar cases. Hence, development of a nation does not have anything to do with crime.
A developed society still has to cope up with crime. I feel that developed countries are more equipped to handle crime and that is precisely the reason why India should develop. Look at the way the UP police handled the excavation. They actually did not do any 'excavation'. They just dug up the ground, destroying the many clues that would have been so vital to reconstruct the crime
Even in India, such cases of child abuse and murder have been reported in the past. It is just that this incident has got the media attention that it deserves or may be, we, the people, have grown up to understand the real implications of such horrific incidents.
One particular case from the past (about 5-6 years) that I remember is of a female serial killer who had killed many infants by crushing their heads against stone/floor/wall. This happened in a village in rural India.
There is no doubt that such incidents shake the confidence that people have on the society as such but it need not make you feel ashamed of this country.
@ pagala'k'
i am alluding to the fact that craze for money and upholding of morals generally dont go together.. the entire nation is madly behind money and this certainly has a big impact on morals.. the first breach of the moral boundary is sufficient to open the flood gates.. and craze for money, which accompanies uninhibited development, more than encourages people to do that...
@ anon
To summarize ur point, I think u feel that since this has happened in other 'developed' nations and in India in the past, this is not something that one needs to be ashamed about...
Would this be the comment that you would pass if your son/daughter/brother/sister were among those kids?
I think you got it wrong.
In the first two paragraph's I want to reiterate that these crimes are not part and parcel of the development the country is witnessing. On the contrary, development would help tackle such menaces better.
In the rest, I want to tell you that such things have happened in the past. In this case the motive was money, but that is not always the case. This country has its share of maniacs.
Personally, if I lost a loved one to such an incident, I would be too grief stricken to even think about which part of the world I live in. I might feel angry at the killers and might want a revenge. But I am sure, I would still be 'proud' of this country.
janani janmabhumishcha swargadapi gari asi
it would be next to impossible to put a causal relation between 'development' and this.. but obviously there is a direct connection between craze for money and this... and a direct connection between 'development' and craze for money.. look at the number of reports pouring in about organ trade possibilities...
hi partha kumar and anaon,
@partha: by development am guessing u mean "development". (thr r many meanings/philosophies abt wht true develpment means and u r familiar with some of those discourses)
@anon and kumar:
1) america has one of the largest crime rates in the world.
2) forget elders killing each other, if in a society lil children are taking guns and shooting each other then thr is sth really screwed with tht kind of a society! whats happening wrong thr, tht otherwise innocent children are resorting to such ghastly acts!?
(u can check out bowling for columbine (a documentary)and the book "we need to talk about kevin" for some snap shots of the american way of (violent)life)
2) japan has one of the highest suicide rates in the world.
3) gujarat one of india's most industrailised states is also whr communal tesions/violence has been high.
USA, Japan and Gujarat all have high GDP's and labeled as "DEVELOPED".
and then what about the massive violence wrought upon the native south americans, africans, asians, for the last 500 yrs to keep "development" going. this rape and pillage continues to this day, albeit in different garbs.
AND THEN what about the massive destruction of the Environment in the last 100 yrs coincinding with the greatest 'developmental' achievements of man!?
DO U STILL THINK ALL THIS VIOLENCE WAS DESPITE OF 'DEVELOPMENT' OR THAT THERE IS A STRONG CAUSAL LINKAGE BETWEEN THE TWO?
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