Questions of Violence
True stories, some thoughts and feelings about violence – all mine:
I met a young woman, about 25 years of age; she was sitting with four daughters outside her home in an Adivasi village. My friend told me her story. She belonged to an Adivasi tribe. She was married at a young age and soon became mother to two daughters and suffered ‘postpartum depression.’ The villagers did not recognize that this was a mental health case. She did not go to the fields to work so her husband deserted her and left her at her mother’s place. Deep in depression she would wander for days in the jungle where she got raped, repeatedly, and she had two more daughters!
My friend said that the tribals do not rape a girl. Who raped her then, I asked. Perhaps the tribals, he said. Why? I guess because she was alone in the jungle. She was available.
My friend Arvind Shrouti said that the fundamental question is ‘If someone is available for exploitation, does that mean we should exploit him/ her?’ While he said this in the context of labour management issues, the rhetorical question is true about life in general.
Vijay Tendulkar said, ‘Every man is like a tiger on a prowl!’
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I was holding a leadership development program for doctors who worked in PHCs (Primary Health Centre) in various states. Among them was a young lady doctor in her late twenties and she was working in a remote village in Bihar. I asked her about her safety, and she replied, ‘Villagers are very protective of doctors, particularly, women doctors. No one will ever misbehave with us because the villagers will be unforgiving and will come down heavily on a miscreant. The trouble is only in the cities.’
Dr. Taru Jindal, a Mumbai doctor went to East Champaran District of Bihar where she transformed a PHC, and that work has won her many accolades besides the hearts of villagers. Read her story here ‘Transforming The Maternal and Child Care’ . She was fully supported by the villagers.
Who lives in the civilized world? People in the cities or those in the villages?
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Newspapers (and Indian Express in particular) joyfully announced front page story that ‘Two male cheetahs at Kuno make their first kill within 24 hours of being released’ .
Is that a cause for celebration? What makes us celebrate it?
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Sakharam Tukaram Bhavdane (he was a worker in the Packing Department of Asian Paints) was killed on April 1, 1986 in a running local train between Bhandup and Kanjurmarg (in Mumbai). The assailants thrusted a stiletto through his armpit and twisted it out piercing his lungs. This happened around 4 pm and was watched by a few hundred commuters, because local trains were very crowded at that time of the day. Not one witness came forward! Not one!! The murder case remains unsolved despite several representations; it is 36 years now!
This murder was the result of inter-union rivalry. And unsolved so far? Is this possible without connivance of a union and the railway police? Sakharam was, for several years, a loyal Shiv-Sainik. Why has the political party not used its influence to solve the mystery?
And finally, I wonder what the feelings of an Inspector were when he agreed not to work on a murder case if the connivance theory was true. Do they spend sleepless nights over such an act, or does the job numb their sensitivities?
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Nobody can match MLA Bachchu Kadu in using violence to make the Government work! Yes, to make the Government work! When he realized that many officers of local Government are not in the office most of the time, he declared that he will auction off their chairs if not seen occupying them on Monday and Tuesday. And he auctioned them!!
‘Hospitals in the region did not stock anti-venom despite growing snakebite cases. The frequent power failures during summer nights caused snakebite cases to spike. An exasperated Bachchu dumped snakes in the primary health center and the electricity office.’ ( Quoted from The Week )
Bachchu Kadu’s unusual tactics of violence have produced dramatic results and admiration of the people. Why could that be so? Why do people silently approve of his tactics?
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Akku Yadav was a gangster, robber, home invader, kidnapper, serial rapist, extortionist, and serial killer. On 13 August 2004, he was lynched by several hundred women who stabbed and stoned him. He had chili powder thrown in his face, and his penis was hacked off. The women all claimed responsibility for the murder, and although some were arrested, they were eventually acquitted. Three films have been made on his life so far. The latest one is ‘Murder in the courtroom’ which is available on Netflix. (See Wikipedia). There are many cases of ‘honour killing,’ this is surely an unusual one in that category.
How can the women who claimed responsibility for murder get acquitted? (The police have a different version.) Or was it a politically convenient decision to let them off? And why did the police fail to act timely against Akku Yadav?
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These are all true stories of violence in the land of Mahatma who preached non-violence. The Adivasi girl was almost a persona non grata till an NGO found her. Sakharam did not matter to the political party which he faithfully supported.
We celebrate Bachchu Kadu and the women in Akku Yadav case because they revolted, and they made the Government and Police authorities dance to their tune!
But is that the solution?
Is it possible for us to become a civilized society?
Vivek S Patwardhan
“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.”
Feature Pic courtesy: Charl Folscher on Unsplash
I appreciate your blog Vivek.Unfortunately the situation is getting worse. Daily papers are full of horrible violent stories that are actually happening. Frankly difficult to understand the behavioural aspects that how can one do such things. The public is interested more in video making than saving the victim. Looks as if we have collectively lost our balance. While government and politians are basically responsible, we as citizens also should be more demanding.
So true your observations!
Sir, this a bold blog. This leaves so many questions unanswered.
Violence is perhaps the unregulated expression of anger. Anger itself is an assertion to get what one does not yet have. The deeper need in the assertion is clearer when the unconscious is accessed in perceptual process. The expressed want is cultured in civilization through shared norms of acceptable conduct. The anomie is sign of abnormal conduct which a minority in society conduct acts of incompetence. The competence required is to regulate the desire of want that anger signals from the unconscious. Notice how spanking or using the rod on children has become undesirable conduct in our lifetimes. Violence is a radical imposition of wants to the exclusion of the wants and needs of the other. It is possible for us then to comprehend that physical assault is merely the tip of the violence iceberg. What simmers beneath is not just non-verbal needs that are unmet, but also verbal assault in pursuit of one’s needs.
Clarifying one’s own needs and integrating or aligning the conscious expression with the unconscious need is the inner struggle each of us owns. Projecting this process on others is irresponsible in mutual spaces. Rapport is no trifle.
Seen this way, understanding a criminal’s action is to comprehend what positive intent went unintegrated that a murder, or rape or stab comes about.
It is this radical control that indicates not only the obvious incompetence but also the choiceless and helpless state in which the criminal operates. Choice is a function of awareness. Awareness is a state in which confusion is resolved. Awareness is also described as a state of acceptance in which our imperfections are clearer to us.
A supreme example is that of the Buddha state that accepts grief or sorrow around us. This sorrow could be from such unintegrated needs. The Buddha resolved his actions through self regulation. Sorrow is the mirror opposite of anger. Sorrow or grief is the coming to terms with the perceived loss of what one thought one had.
Laws are social devices to regulate desired norms of those in larger society. Imagine in reverse for a bit. Imagine norms that inflict the desires of criminal intent. Is that not violence too?
The see-saw in this desired equilibrium is ongoing.
Our problem is hypocrisy. We worship the Mother Goddess and rape women. No woman is safe, especially in our cities. We talk about Ahimsa and take videos of violence happening instead of intervening to stop it. A young boy is stabbed in the train in Delhi. An 8 year old girl is kidnapped, drugged, raped over three days, confined in a temple. One of the rapist who is less than 18 years old calls his uncle from UP to come and rape this little girl. Among the rapists is a priest and a policeman. Finally they kill the girl by crushing her head with a rock. The news is in the papers for a few days. Then silence.This is our culture. This is our present. The future will be built by people who will be used to this.
Aftab Shraddha the latest. Most gruesome.
Awesome blog as always and a very important one. Have some strong views on this matter. Let’s catch up and talk. Usi bahane!
Dear Vivek,
Thanks and yes, violence is so much a part of life. This arises from power imbalance and that power could be monetary, authority, physical, etc. In this therefore it is not about what is right or wrong but about who is more powerful. I have seen violence in factories. Have seen murders because of inter union rivalry and also deprivation and helplessness. And this is in all kinds of institutions – organizations, gender based, politics, even religious organizations. Will go away only when a balance is achieved, and that is a long haul!!
Yes, physical violence is to be denounced by all means.
How about emotional violence – equally & more devastating . . .
Hello Vivek.
Once again you have tabled an earth mover.
By the time I am writing this one more shocker has erpupted
” BODY CUT INTO 35 PIECES like a vegetable ” .
The worst part is our sensitivities are dead.
Our ethical upbringing has to be uniform for all irrespective of Religion,castes & social class.
There is a great urgency on this.
Kudos to you and your third eye.