What are we thinking?

What unimaginable crimes people commit. Really. Earlier, I had written a post in my blog wondering about mob fury. Mob violence doesn't always happen as a reaction to a crime. It sometimes happens of its own accord.

A news channel reported an incident of a youth being beaten up mercilessly because he fell in love and wanted to marry a girl of a different class or caste! There have been incidents where such young people have been murdered in the melee. In most of these incidents, the policemen turn out to be mere onlookers, possibly helpless when faced with a mob like that, or maybe out of sheer apathy. (Being a policeman is just another silly job, then?).

Another type of unspeakable crime, acid attacks. Why do we say that human beings are civilized? A bunch of young men or boys in the teens or early twenties throw acid on the faces of some girls, ruining them for life, sometimes even killing. What is the difference between such 'civilized' people from apparently good families and plain savages? Why do some people think that this is an acceptable thing to do, this throwing acid business. It makes the blood boil to even think that such youth have support in the society. Support from their families, from the politicians, from 'influential contacts', who would make sure that these criminals are not detained in jails.

I read about an incident in the papers where two such criminals, youths who had thrown acid on two young ladies (the condition of one of whom was said to be critical) were killed in a police encounter. Perhaps, just perhaps the police knew that these criminals had contacts in high places and would walk free again if they were alive. Maybe the shootout was justified.

The response of the people to this was mixed. Many lauded the fact that these criminals were removed from society; the father of the prime accused even refused to collect the body of his son because of the crimes he had committed.

On the other hand, another bunch of people are accusing the police of showing off their 'muscle power'. Well, I wonder if they did say at least something when these boys had thrown acid on the young victims! I wonder what their opinion was with respect to the fact that they had maimed two girls (perhaps many more in the past) for life. Why all this outrage, why all this public support for two mindless criminals? Well, too bad that they couldn't be tried and punished, or maybe put on death row by a court, but that's all the sympathy they should get. But that's just me.