Rhea Chakraborty

                             

                               expecting a minimum human dignity in a country of one and half billion people itself seems absurd. Its obvious that third world problem cant be over shadowed by first world issues like human dignity. For long humanity took granted the idea that human being by birth have certain privileges , one of which is minimum standards of respect for being part of a community. Today its rare to see it anywhere. Leaders with power to influence social values are willingly crossing the lines that were expected not be crossed ever. 

                             The public humiliation that Rhea Chakraborty faced, The language that was used on prime time tv shows, The character assassination that followed after her arrest. this is not a story of how an actor died by suicide or how his ex girlfriend was accused and later jailed, It is about how we as a society has become morally numb. day by day, bit by bit we have become indifferent to our own surroundings. We have created so many mini societies among ourselves that whenever something like this happens we take a wicked relief by finding some mini society to point fingers at. We do not wish to stain our little self by saying 'we are part of this society and we should be held responsible', nope, never. Rather we brush the victims by shredding their characters, professions, upbringing and every little choices they have made. We in simple terms always, successfully locate a scapegoat to sacrifice on altars of our purity. 

                             We are a sick society. A society that is exhausted by its own moral weight. We have promised too much to ourselves . now when it’s going farther away from us we somehow want to hold on to that promised land. However fatigued our society is ,there is always some distant golden past or golden future to rely on in times of moral breakdown.We are too scared to look underneath our feet because we are not sure what our collective response would be if we are just hanging on to a mirage. 

                              the reasons are many but one that stands out is our outsourcing of democracy to few people. And by that it does not mean elections and stuff. Democracy was a simple and beautiful idea that people who are being governed are responsible citizens who are the biggest stakeholders of this start up. We were meant to be critical of ourselves more than others, we were suppose to question our dearly held assumptions and be better. But this kind of democracy requires courage which somehow has become a rarity. And those who are willing to put themselves at front are humiliated and socially downgraded. 

                                Rhea's case had become a daily soap for many. her brother had scored 96 % in CAT but when time came for admission he was in jail. humiliation along with loss of opportunity leaves a scar that takes a while to heal and sometimes it does not heal. Rhea and her family have lost many things but we as a community of people have lost more. 

                               Hope is not easy to come for those whose life is torn apart in front of billion people but when society looses rationality and sense of dignity we enter a world of social dementia. And as the police inspector in movie article 15 says,' Do not become revolutionary , just go online write some pages and your anger will fade'.