Gunning for
law and order
Speaking
generally
By Chanchal
Sarkar
THE world over we create a
screaming fuss about America’s gun laws. Rightly,
too, because if anyone can walk into a gun shop and buy a
lethal weapon (very few are exempt) then the danger to
everyone’s life is immense. The tragic school
shootings have shown this. But what about us? Not just
someone pulling a gun and shooting a Jessica Lal but
much, much more.
B. Sivaramayya was a
Professor of Law at Delhi University. A teacher and
person universally respected, he had built a house in the
suburb called Vaishali where he lived with his wife after
retirement. Sivaramayya did a lot of semi-voluntary work
for the National Council for Women, the Centre for
Women’s Development Studies, and other socially
active organisations. His writing and editing were
greatly appreciated.
A few days ago
Sivaramayya stepped out of his home in broad daylight to
go to his bank which was very near. Some building work
was going on at his house and the workmen had to be paid
some Rs 30,000.
Sivaramayya withdrew the
money and was walking back home, in broad daylight, as I
said, but with not many people about. Suddenly he was set
upon by two men on a scooter who beat him up, snatched
the money and sped away in their scooter. I said
"beat him up", which is a thoroughly weak
description. Sivaramayya somehow pulled himself up and
staggered to his home. When he entered his wife did not
recognise him, so covered was he with blood, until he
told her who he was. With the help of friends he was
taken to a hospital where they said that his head wound
was very, very deep. Soon Sivaramayya slipped into a coma
and in two days he was gone, to the distress of his
family and many friends.
My question is that if
we condemn the Americans for their senseless
gun-killings, with readily bought guns, for their having
the largest number of prisoners in the world, for being a
country where even children carry guns into school and
parents teach them to shoot in ranges, then what about
us?
I, too, have to walk to
my bank and back from time to time and to draw not
insignificant sums of money. I, too, have to walk near
our home at night where the lights are dim (and sometimes
non-functioning) and there is hardly anyone about in our
quiet neighborhood. If I am set upon as Sivaramayya was
what do I do?
If I shouted probably
none would respond and, in any case, the assailants would
zoom away. So should gun-carrying be made easier in
India? If not automatic pistols and suchlike, should
small revolvers be allowed without the enormous fuss that
is made now-a-days?
The reality is that
gun-running and gun-smuggling are now as easy as pie but
the ones who acquire such guns are the last people who
should have them. If people of substance and stature were
allowed guns then probably Sivaramayya would not have
died. Needless to say the Police will make no headway
over the cruel death of a good man. Maybe they even knew
of the attack and claimed a cut from the loot. Anyway
West Bengal’s Police Commission has just said that
the State’s Police Service is a whisker away from
total breakdown. Delhi can’t be any better.
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