Adnan, a teenager was kidnapped by three other teens and later strangulated to death recently. The news made it quit big on print, tv and web.
Adnan was son of a well-to-do businessman, staying in one of the high profile suburbs of Mumbai, India. His three friends (whom he met on Orkut.com) decided to kidnap him and make some quick money. Though they had not planned to kill, they actually killed him in panic when the kidnap news spread in media. Cops arrested the trio and they confessed following that.
In the busy world, this may seem like just another "case closed" for all. People would scrap Adnan's profile for a while, media will chew the news, parents will perform rituals, police will proceed with legal trial and slowly the news will be history.
Even though the accused have been arrested and confessions have been recorded...I am trying to see if the real killer has been arrested....after all, who really killed Andan?
The three "friends"?
Ofcourse yes!
These kids are nothing but a small sample of our lost youth population. Lack of proper education, lack of human motives, lack of morals, lack of real Idols to follow is generating more young criminals everyday than anything else. We need to have serious efforts to tackle this. And this can only happen if the society is ready for the change and be a part of it than sit complaining.
Orkut.com?
I fail to understand why the debate again comes up since the kidnappers used orkut.com to contact Adnan. If it had not been orkut, it could be something else. It could be a simple email. Would the people ask the Internet to be shut down/banned if that happens? People need to be aware of the new technology and how it can be (mis)used. A local political party earlier ransacked a cyber cafe to protest against Orkut.com. There was another news claiming some technical members are planning to write software to block orkut communities in Cafes so that specific communities can be blocked. I pity their technical expertise. Orkut does provide the facility to report abuse and if enough people do that, orkut closes the profile/community down. Can the political parties involve their members do the same instead of breaking things around?
Media?
Media is one of the communication medium where morality and ethics play important role.
Unfortunately, media has now become a business which is fought like war. There has been a mushroom growth in news channels in India recently. Zee News, NDTV, AajTak, IBM7, CNBC-TV18, CNN-IBN, Headlines Today, Tej, Star News, Sahara News are just some of the prominent ones. There is a cut-throat competition between all of these to give the "exclusive coverage" and to be the first to obtain the "breaking news". Gone are the days when news was "covered", now the channels can do absurd things to "make news"! And once there is a bit, it would be looped continuously on-air (with big "EXCLUSIVE" and "BREAKING NEWS" tag) whole day, or till there is another news to cash on. All the ethics and Morales are kept aside in view of profit and TRP.
Selective Journalism too, is playing huge role in the business . A star wedding makes it to TV and media and everything from the ceremony is covered, be it the wedding attire, place, astroprofiles of couple - everything is discussed. Innocent people are spending years in overcrowded jails, but only when a star is jailed, the case gets attention. Poor women in country are harassed, assaulted and abused in many ways, yet a news is made only when a high profile officer is made target by another officer.
Adnan's news was no exception and it was promptly covered by Media. And soon the news was everywhere, thanks to news readers continuously crying aloud about the missing guy. Could have the murder been avoided if the news had not made it public?
Maybe Yes! If Police could investigate the case quietly, they could zero-in on the trio on time, given the fact that trio confessed of not planning to kill him and they were amateur kidnappers. The undue attention attracted by media caused panic amongst the kidnappers and they murdered him out of fear.
Police and Law?
Police actually did quiet a good job in this case. They managed to investigate the case and track down the kidnappers. Too bad they couldn't catch them before the murder took place. But was this because the case was lodged by a wealthy businessman and media attention was involved in the case?
Maybe Yes! Not all are bad, but Cops here are notorious for being active on high profile cases only. If you are not a businessman/ star/govt official/politician or son/daughter of one, try going to cops for a reason and then you will experience the fun. I remember when my cellphone was stolen and I interacted with cops. And there was a news in media after some days when a filmstar son forgot his cellphone in the city cab. The cops went out of their way, without an FIR and whole area was combed to find out the missing cellphone!
Do the people today think twice before committing a planned act of crime? Are they deterred in any way by fear of law and order? India is comparatively better country than many other with respect to law. But still a lot of efforts are required before Police change their role from "maintaining crime records" to "actively preventing people from committing crime and Justice system be made quick enough to punish ad-hoc criminals.
Parents and society?
Kidnappers said that they kidnapped him for money. But why in the first place they felt money is so much important. Where are the morale police who protest against movies and valentines days only?
Adnan left home in his own car, and was killed in the same. Being son of businessman, he had a rich lifestyle. I am not trying to portray him as a villain or spoilt brat but he represents a class of teenagers who have easy money at hand to spend for luxury. Their day spending can easily run a poor man's house for a week or more. The parents stay usually busy in their business and the need for looking after the child mentally, socially is hardly felt. The parental duties are considered done if they are able to provide money when asked.
Following the incident, Adnan's father said - "I’d give all my money". Why sir? Is money everything? If you had kept enough checks on his friends/hobbies, spent time trying to know him more, do you think you could have seen this day?
Adnan's parents are not the only parents involved. It applies equally to parents of the kidnappers. They are definitely not happy since the death sentence looms over their sons. Maybe they are poor, yet they could have spent time teaching their sons the importance of being a good and educated human being in this world. Money comes naturally isn't it?
So called forums who take onus of fixing Indian culture by banning western cloths/movies/books etc, fail to understand that the society needs an inside change - a change in its mentality and cultural beliefs. Its not a one day job. It will need a phenomenal change in people's mindset and this might take a generation or two to happen.
We at least can start with ourselves and try what we can. No need to start another forum or protest on road. A simple pledge to groom a kid well can do wonders.
I wish Adnan's soul rest in peace.
