CRIME AND SOCIETY

I have a friend who happens to work as a Jailer.We had a discussion recently on the reasons for various crime and the attitude of the criminals.I came to know about certain interesting facts which I wanted to share with you through this piece of writing.

He said that all most all of the theft cases originates out of poverty and hunger. He had seen many Chain snatchers,buglers,looters.The striking commonality he found among all is that these people live under the condition of chronic poverty and has no work to do.This infers us that poverty and lack of job opportunity is at the root of the problem.

He told me that majority (he said 90%) of murder and rape cases were commited while the offender is under intoxication. This may be true, but we cannot jump to the conclusion that liquor consumption leads to crime.If we assume that liquor instigates the criminal attitude then most of the western and developed countries should be the cradles of crime since the liquor consumption rates are far greater in these countries compared to developing countries like India.

So it is not the liquor but something else is at the root of the problem.It appears to me that the root of the problem is illiterate and ignorant society  where in the crime breeds.If we can provide good education to our children which provides them good opportunities thus removes the poverty.Good education also builds good conscince.This completely changes the way society thinks and operates .I think this is the state of society which we see in most developed nations like Swedan,Norway,UK etc.

He was explaining to me the case of a rape accused who is very young ,illiterate and belonging to a poor scheduled tribe community.This boy raped his younger sister who is a minor while he was drunk.His parents has become furious but  tried to keep this act secret fearing social reaction.Anyhow this matter has been leaked to the villagers and they conducted a panchayat and decided to lodge a complaint against this boy since they wanted  to teach him a lesson so that he won’t commit this crime again.Thus a case of rape was booked and he was arrested.

Here comes the interesting part of the story.My friend was observing this boy  for 3 months,he said that he is very good,obidient and hard working guy that he ever seen in his career.when my friend asked him  that as to why he has committed such a horrible  crime,he replied that he was very ashamed of what has happened that night.Further he said that it is all due to liquor that he has consumed which had awoken the animal instincts  which he could not control at that fit of the moment.

This incident reveals two important facts.One,how vulnerable the girls/women in the poor families.second, how, even the most obidient and good people turn out to be criminals.This incident further accentuates the fact that the  presence of  poverty,lack of education ,lack of employment  at the root of the crime.My friend also mentioned some of the laws which are grossly being misused(according to him).One of them is Dowry act.He said, he has seen many cases in which wife is wrongly implicating their husbands into dowry harrasment case.

He was explaining to me one such  case of a poor couple.Wife studied 10^th standard and husband is illiterate.My friend told me the version of the accused(the husband) which he apperently believed . wife has extra-marital affair with another guy and also she often scolded her husband of illiteracy and poverty.One day having fully drunk, this guy has abused her verbally and the next day with the help of her friend this women lodged a complaint of dowry harassment upon which he was booked and arrested.

This verion of the accused might be right or wrong, but we cannot completely deny the fact that this act is being misused.I guess same is the case with Domestic violence act.My friend also said that another law which is often misused is SC/ST attrocities act.Though this act has definetly helped in curbing the henious attrocities on SC/ST communities,my friend says,it has also led to further widening the gulf between SC/ST and non SC/ST communities.There is a point in what he said.

Also he mentioned about the misdeeds of police that leads to perpetration of the crime.One of the normal practice of police is that they try to implicate the accused( who was caught in a case)in various crimes( like theft,robbery) which are already pending with them .This is to cover-up their inefficiency .This makes the accused feel bad about the system and he further pursue his criminal activities with increased vigour after he releases from the prison.

After having looked into various cases of crime and other systemic  factors we can conclude that there is a problem with the whole system as well as with our immature society.Reforming the system is not sustainable until the society becomes mature.It does not mean to stop reforms and wait for social change.Both reforms and social change should go in parallel.

The goodthing is that things are changing fast.As Markandeya Katju always says , we are in the midst of transition.The 'growing radicalisation of the masses(thoug this was not reached to the lower strata)', 'increasing  strugle in the society against ineffective government and evil forces ' ,'most vibrant media and the new phenomina of social media 'are the symptoms of this transition.This transition is the transition of power from state/govt to its people which I call as democratisation of democracy.

My sixth sense tells me that this transition wont take much longer than it usually takes, given the rapidity of the changes.All the other institutions should cope up with these changes or else they would be destroyed and new ones would replace them.This transition once completed brings in reformed and well functioning systems.And thus sets up a society which is envisaged in the premble of our constitution where there is no crime  & corruption but full of love, peace and joy.