To Post or not to Post

 The Statesman 2 April 2020

(This article examines the dilemma of numerous posts on Corona Virus - is it a boon or a bane?)

 

'To post or not to post’ seems to be the collective mental dilemma of the present time. A strong case has been made for staying away from the huge overload of information related to the Coronavirus. Conspiracy theories abound about its origin and spread. Well known personalities have advocated not thinking about or discussing the virus for some amount of time. Yet others insist it takes a toll on our mental health and can induce unnecessary panic. There are concerns about the authenticity of some posts. Many wise folks rightfully point out this is an excellent time to ‘look within’

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My point of view is to have a continued conversation on the subject. Here’s why I think this is a good idea.

Corona virus posts/articles encourage discourse in real time. In this uncertain and rapidly unfolding situation, we don’t have the luxury of formal medical trials with long - term follow up results. All that we can bank on right now is an exchange of medical information, experiences, and ideas of those countries that have had a head start on having had to grapple with the disease. As a professor from AIIMS said ‘there is more learning in the corridors of the science department than in the laboratories’. He was alluding to the discussions between colleagues as they passed each other in the hallways, picking each others’ brains or offering solutions. It is well known that universities acquire their reputation not only from the infrastructure and staff but largely from the students they attract. Prospective pupils know that much of their learning will be from the animated brainstorming with their bright, talented peers. In a rapidly evolving, global and complex medical situation, it makes a lot of sense to communicate in all spheres - medical, social, civil; to ensure better coordination and allotment of resources. While doctors are exchanging medical information on treatments and susceptibility to the disease (older age groups are more vulnerable than younger people), geography and climate; epidemiologists, social scientists and economists among others are analyzing how and why the virus has travelled faster to some countries but not others. Technology and textile companies are focusing on equipment supply and upgrades. Successful state and country models are being highlighted.

There are posts which suggest radical conspiracy theories. People delight in being the first ones to post new and sensational information in their respective online groups. This raises eyebrows and can also inflame passions and stress. These posts, however, serve a very useful purpose. To be able to accept or reject the allegation prompts one to search for the truth and a lot of useful data is put out that can help one make up one’s own mind. There are the various conspiracy theories surrounding the virus’s country of origin, China, especially the nature of its origin. Whereas some feel it was due to cross contamination from Pangolin or bat viruses from China’s wet market, (there a lot of live fish and animals are in captivity prior to being slaughtered and sold)                                                                                                                                                             others talk about the viral research laboratory in Wuhan. For example, a published article (authored by scientists from Wuhan Institute of Virology, Universities in Shanghai and Peking and Australian Animal Health Laboratory) in the Journal of Virology , as early as Feb 2008 describes the successful experimental exchange of viral nuclear material between a SARS human infecting virus and the Corona, Horseshoe bat infecting virus. 

Due to the lockdown and the important role of social distancing in breaking the chain of virus transmission, people are confined to their homes. There are some who live alone. Many need to talk about this overwhelming experience with others and understand how they are coping. Some people relieve their isolation by following up on posts related to the virus and some people their fear. I followed a thread on Twitter where a health professional wanted to know how patients, who reached the respirator stage, fared. Several doctors from across the world shared their experiences which left her feeling more reassured. Posing questions, sharing apprehensions and interacting gives people the sense that they are all together experiencing this challenge. No one needs to face it alone.

For all the accurate statistics and real life video shared by recuperating patients that may induce a sense of fear, there also abound many uplifting messages. Some of the spiritual messages talk of how the Coronavirus is a positive force, compelling us to reprioritize our lives. Messages encourage us to build our innate immunity; they underline how deeply connected we are-literally our lives are in each other’s hands. Wildlife enthusiasts are posting wonderful pictures of how animals are seen in larger numbers, now that humans have receded from many common natural spaces. Contact numbers of government shelters/ NGOs distributing food or collecting donations are shared. Doctors who are working long shifts without breaks are sharing their experiences and drawing their energy from the overwhelming support and gratitude they receive on their timelines. Due to a high transmission risk through doctors and hospitals as well as an enlightened decision to channelize medical resources towards COVID and emergencies, routine OPDs have been closed down in many countries. Doctors who are temporarily at home (or working in shifts) keep abreast on the disease through media and personal communication. A medical colleague told me how she is enjoying surfing through messages and savouring the ones that really appeal to her. 

Moreover, diversity of opinion on any subject is very important. For global issues like climate change and the Corona scourge among others, people largely hear the political viewpoint as the official one. But how a politician looks at a scientific subject is vastly different from how a healthcare official or a scientist or even a patient views it. Myriad perspectives help create a holistic picture in our minds. Political announcements, though relevant as they outline the overall picture, don’t tell us the minutiae. We decidedly need other voices to fill the gaps.

We can either look the problem squarely in the face and not get intimidated by the news surrounding it or we can choose to bury our heads in the sand much like the ostrich and just hope that it will blow over. Will it create a panic? It is difficult to say. As a family member pointed out - many people in our country have a fatalistic attitude and believe in destiny. Such people are not likely to panic easily. Also there are controversies about fake and real posts. To clarify, one can check the source (e.g. standard E newspaper sites should be reliable) or references, as well as rely on posts of known people (those you know personally sharing their experiences or opinion) or verified handles.

For those who are as overwhelmed by the posts around the virus as they are by the virus itself, they can just switch off from the welter of information. They can do so secure in the knowledge that if they feel like connecting to their wider ‘family’ in the world at any time, all it takes is the tap of a button.

The Perception of Sedition

 The Statesman 26 February 2020

A recent occurrence at a public event in Bengaluru caught the attention of many. The video showed a young teenager standing on the stage saying something and the very next minute she was being manhandled by a large number of the men on stage who towered over her. The plucky teenager seemed undaunted and kept trying to grab back the mike to continue speaking, but was overwhelmed by the sea of swarthy men jostling her, snatching the mike away, till finally she was led off the stage by uniformed policemen.

As a woman, I was dumbfounded at watching fellow speakers on the dais physically bully this young girl. On paying greater attention to details, it seems that the teenager, 18-year old Amulya Leona, had chanted “Pakistan Zindabad” at the commencement of her speech. Several people took umbrage to that. The politician who was hosting the show was worried that it would go against his patriotic image. She shouted out “Hindustan Zindabad” a couple of times thereafter and some on the stage joined in the chorus. I later learnt that she has been booked for sedition under section 124 A of the Indian Penal Code. I was stunned for many reasons.

If a young girl’s statement could be quoted out of context (it seems she was advocating peace amongst all the neighbours in the Indian subcontinent and celebrating these neighbours) and she could be arrested for that, it didn’t augur well. In all our teachings in school and the answers we have written in exams till date, one is always asked to provide a background before embarking on the answer. In her case, the context was blithely ignored.

If merely voicing the name of a neighbouring country attracts arrest, then what of Indian officials who have engaged with our neighbour at various levels of cultural exchanges and overt as well as backdoor diplomacy? What of controversial TV anchors who invite Pakistani nationals on their prime time programmes to get the views of both sides or even just to increase TRP ratings? Here they are going one step ahead and actually engaging with Pakistani citizens. Would that attract harsher punishment under ‘advanced sedition’?

In the current Indian scenario if we take the literal definition of sedition ‘incitement of resistance to or insurrection against lawful authority’ into account, then many people in authority would themselves be guilty. For, in our country, the main authority is actually the Constitution of India. Those who try to undermine it or dilute its spirit in a big way are the ones actually indulging in sedition. What of politicians who destabilize state governments by luring parliamentarians this way or that by offers of money? Doesn’t tampering with lawfully elected state authority fall into the actual realm of this definition? The teenager’s sloganeering did not represent disaffection with the Indian or any government for that matter (as she broadly invoked the names of countries), no force was used, nor did her words incite anyone except a handful of burly males sharing the dais with her to push her off it! If anything, friendly relations with the neighbouring state were promoted as we are not currently at war with any state. The teenager was merely exercising her right to freedom of expression under Article 19(1)(a) of the Indian constitution. Some may find her plucky and some consider her a nuisance. But she is clearly not jail material.

Keeping our country’s history in perspective, many families in North India have elderly members who were born on the Pakistan side of undivided India. The Freedom struggle gained us our independence in 1947, but political circumstances led to the painful and violent partition into two countries. Many elected to come to the Indian side of the fence and many were caught unawares as they were holidaying here. Despite the traumatic turn of events, members of both these groups speak warmly and nostalgically of their childhoods and the neighbourhoods they grew up in. My father was born and brought up in a place called PakPatan, district Montgomery, undivided India. At a change of guard ceremony at the Wagah border, my mother-in-law looked longingly across and said that Lahore is less than 30 km away - so near yet so far! Is it possible to hate the land of your parents’ birth? So what if different people live in that place now? Just like an old house you loved and lived in when you were young (hear the nostalgic ‘the house that built me’ by country singer Tanya Tucker to understand what I mean) remains in your memory no matter who the new tenant may be. Wanting to revert to an old status quo of peace certainly doesn’t seem to amount to sedition.

At a global level, the United Nations was formed with the chief objective of promoting world peace and security and friendly relations between countries. Respected dignitaries the world over offer to broker peace between warring nations in strife torn, volatile regions. The celebrated poet Rabindranath Tagore tried to elegantly uplift our thoughts above the confining boundaries of geographical regions and an aggressive nationalism which eroded our sense of a larger humanity. This is also reflected in the Indian philosophy of Vasudhaiv Kutumbkam. If the people who inhabit countries at war don’t want to have their lifetimes defined by mortar, shelling and hatred, would we call them reasonable and sane or a seditious bunch? 

India is a signatory to the the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which exists to ensure the protection of civil and political rights of citizens. It includes the right to freedom of thought (Article 18) holding one’s own opinions and expressing them (Article 19). Article 15 also suggests that ‘no one can be guilty of an act of criminal offence which did not constitute a criminal offence’! 

Whether the sedition law itself is even necessary is a moot point. The judiciary has thus far been inclined to safeguard the freedom of speech of the Indian citizens in almost all their judgments. It is clear that if one’s thoughts are not in consonance with those of the government of the day it does not amount to sedition. The Indian Law Commissions recommendation of 2018 was to invite a greater public debate on it and amend it to make it more citizen friendly. This law was put in place by the British to keep us ‘natives’ in our place and safeguard the authority of their colonial rule. Freedom fighters that attracted the sedition laws in the pre-independence era included JC Bose, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Mahatma Gandhi. Ironically the British do not have such a law in their own constitution. The post-independence list of those booked under sedition law in India includes writers, thinkers and all manner of citizens, only a few of whom were actually declared guilty.

If we aspire to be a great democracy, we must support the building blocks that go into its making, especially free speech and thinking. Attempting to jail a young girl for reasons that are not compelling does greater damage to our standing as a democracy than to her.

Whose Sentence is it anyway ?

 The Statesman, 19 January 2020

Every evening at 8 pm, the same poignant scene unfolds outside the apartments in sector 19, Dwarka, where Nirbhaya’s parents currently live. Some RWA members and Nirbhaya’s parents stand with lit candles for an hour in the cold, reminding the country’s institutions, in their usual dignified manner, that justice still eludes them at the end of seven long years. They have been holding this evening vigil for 31 days now and will continue to do so till the culprits are dealt with as per their sentence. The group of candle bearers is growing daily. Other satellite groups have formed, in solidarity with Nirbhaya’s parents.

 What is unacceptable is the way the criminals are exploiting one legal loophole after another, right under the gaze of lawyers and government. Three different courts, the Sessions court, the High court as well as the Supreme Court examined the case in detail over several months and reached the same unanimous verdict of the death penalty in 2017. The law allows the filing of mercy and curative petitions after such a penalty as well as the ability to apply for presidential pardon - but within a ‘reasonable time frame’. Secure in the knowledge that our legal system is tardy, the criminals were caught napping for two years. Now that the date of their execution has been declared, they are filing one petition after another. Since most petitions and PILs on a common topic are clubbed together, it also seems a miscarriage of justice to allow criminals to file their applications serially rather than collectively. Are we to understand that a victim who is gang raped by a larger number of people must expect a longer delay before justice is awarded? The judicial system must not be allowed to be subverted to give such dreaded criminals one undeserving chance at delay after another. When the same courts and government are dragging their heels over possible violations of constitutional rights of citizens a such as those protesting peacefully against CAA/NRC/NPR implementation, as well as the citizens of Kashmir; giving these people who have indulged in such a monstrous act so much judicial leeway is palpably unfair. The Central  government has demonstrated the ability to effect changes almost overnight such as in the case of demonetization and abrogation of article 370 (which was complicated and fraught with constitutional implications). Given this background it is incomprehensible how the combined might of the Central and State governments is not able to provide justice to a forlorn, long suffering, anguished mother and father even at the end of seven years in a proven case of rape and murder.

There is a worldwide debate on whether the death penalty stands scrutiny and there are strong arguments for and against. Suffice it to say that our Indian legal system currently allows the death penalty to be prescribed for the rarest of rare cases. Rather than discussing that aspect, I would rather like to draw your attention to the ‘sentence’ meted out by criminals to innocent citizens for no fault of theirs.

When our citizens’ group first met Nirbhaya’s parents a year or two after the December 2012 incident, one of the things that Badriji her father said, are etched vividly in my memory. He said ‘I nearly lost one more member of my family that year’. The allusion was of course to a grief and depression so deep that it can kill a person. It is by no means easy to deal with such a great loss. Asha ji would agonize for years afterwards about the fourteen odd days she spent with Nirbhaya in the hospital when Nirbhaya was in a critical condition. She would keep remembering her desperate desire to give in to her daughter’s request of just one sip of water, which she couldn’t, given the doctors’ strict instructions to the contrary. The mental trauma and stress which the family has undergone is tremendous. Even then, they have got back on their feet and work towards justice and empowerment for all girls. Does this long suffering mother and father duo not deserve the court and government’s empathy and support? Should they be standing day in and day out in the cold while the criminals explore one legal remedy after another, wasting the taxpayers and courts’ time and money? What makes these remorseless persons who inflicted such cruelty on Nirbaya so special that we provide them chance after chance to keep challenging their richly deserved and ethically and legally arrived at sentence? Why are governments mulling the political advantages and timing of addressing such a grave travesty of justice rather than mitigating the suffering of the parents? When will everyone gracefully acknowledge the verdict arrived at by all the courts? 

When we consider the struggle of a victim of sexual assault in India, their agony is compounded multiple times after the incident, which does not allow them to put it behind them easily. The difficulties begin right from the time when the FIR is filed. Dealing with insensitive and brusque officials, makes the victim feel worse. Mental counseling is rarely provided. Then come years of court appearances where some of the illiterate victims, do not even fully comprehend the court proceedings and just get the feeling that they are being given one date of extension after another as the case drags on. The defense lawyers of the accused often are brutal in the cross examination. Somehow casting aspersion on the victim’s character is a cheap and popular ploy.

At home, the victim has no respite. Often insensitive neighbours avoid interacting with a ‘violated’ girl or are intimidated by the families of the accused into not meeting the victim. The relatives of the accused, sometimes abetted by the local officials put pressure on the victim to withdraw the case by bullying and threats. The victim and their family thus live in fear and constant dread. Often, they have lifelong gynaecological or other medical problems for which they need to be on prolonged treatment and medication. Some spend a lifetime on antidepressants. Many lose out on a promising career. 

Instead of focusing on the human rights of criminals, why do we not vociferously argue about the right to life and liberty of the victim as guaranteed by article 21 of our Constitution ? Or the human right against cruelty in the Universal Declaration ? It is truly ironical how those who brutally violate the rights of another clamour for their own rights to be protected and are listened to with a great show of fairness.

Those adults who commit these heinous crimes know full well that it is punishable with severe sentences.It is their conscious choice to tempt judicial fate. But what of innocent citizens who are sentenced to a lifetime of mental agony, physical trauma or lose their lives ? Did they deserve such a sentence ? Are they getting any chances at being whole and healed again ? Not so. Then why an inordinate number of chances for depraved humans indulging in heinous acts?

The resources in a democracy should be focused on the greatest good for the greatest majority. Sadly there is a tendency for reasons of sensationalism to direct these resources, our time and empathy towards an undeserving handful of the worst behaved citizens. It is time that this thinking changed.

It is time for the victims to be supported instead. Simply, by thinking of them for a change.