RE-DEFINING RIGHTS

Re-defining rights

 

-SANGHAMITRA GOGOI

MACJ

 

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the word violence? You are terrified, eyes wide open and that you are shaken by the fear of chaos and injustice. Nora is an 8 yr old school going boy who recently murdered his school teacher. Will we the audience consider this scene as violent?

he answer to the above question is absolutely a ‘yes’!

There is a world which works under this parasitic devastation and this is violence. We human beings are sensitive to cases similar to Nora and why will we not be? A point to be noted down. It is because we happen to be living in a complex society where safety is a word which is fancied upon by the higher authority. When we talk about rights, we start picturing ourselves either in the form of Durga Ma or Jhansi ki raani who battled for their rights. But here the scene takes a dimention when we give voice to a community who we think is less powerful then us. They are children and we synonym them as innocent, lively, powerless. Are they actually powerful or innocent? Time has changed drastically and along with time generation gap is clearly observed. We see right as a weapon of positive change but we forget to break the fourth wall convention of the positivity.

 This incident took place in the year 2006 and like most other teenagers around me i was a newcomer to this new world of ‘violence’. I saw this 8^th standard boy brutally murdered to death by one of his batchmate. And sadly this all happened over a tiffin issue. This became the talk of the town, people started questioning the school authority and slowly and gradually after few years things started to fade out. When you as a child see and hear to all these issues surrounding you then what will be your immediate response to this heneous crime committed by someone who have acquired the skilled of murdering someone inside the school premises infront of the crowd and secondly someone who is of your own age. Do we name tag this as our child right or should we change the so called definition of rights? Your liberty doesn’t give you the power to play with a soul. Where do people acquire such courage and skills to uplift their power. They might have followed shakespears lines devotedly where he says that- ‘this world is a stage and we are mere players’. Now if we interpret this particular line in our own terms then surely we will end up losing our game. Society directly or indirectly holds the position of an entertainer and more or less they turn up to show their thumbs down signal  to all these issue but fail to prove their consent over such matter.

Who do you think should we blame?

Society, parents, school authority or the frail laws imposed by our government. We don’t know neither we have facts regarding these all issues. Where we can say that we as an individual and society should be blamed. According to the criminal law, violence is a serious offence. Now how much have these power structure proved their law. And how much have these laws made stringent. Think of few backward locality where issues such as emotional, social and physical violence take a rowing face. It’s a loss of face for the once breathing the urban air whose mouth is filled with good words and good deeds an beyond which no negativity emerges. But they do talk of peace, liberty, justice and sadly these issues have merely become a talk show rather then something which could bring some positive change. But cutting across the limitations society whispers hope and this would be enough to work for an upliftment.