Dilnawaz Pasha for BeyondHeadlines
I am happy that in a country where it is practically impossible to do anything against the corrupt system, we can at least think freely. Before Government impose sanctions on your free thoughts too, it is the time you must think about what is happening around you.
Just give a thought that why the people who dare to question the system and ask for their rights are thought to be mad or mentally unstable? Is living silently with the system and bowing to the corrupt only certificate of sound health and mental stability?
Not Long Ago, A DIG rank IPS official dared to speak about rampant corruption in UP police and what followed were medical certificates declaring him mad.
An official who dared to speak was declared mad, and we remained silent. In the days that followed, even the news story lost its readers interest. Rapes, bribes, murders took space in the headlines and we forget that the man who dared to speak was an IPS officer, who had served his entire life in the UP police force but when he spoke of corruption, the doctors declared him Mentally unstable. We never questioned the verdict and started living with the system, like we were living earlier. Living but not Happy.
Later a young Man named Harvinder Singh expressed his anger against the government by slapping union Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar. All politicians came out crying in support of Pawar. Police arrested him and sent him to Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IHBAS) and tried to declare him too mentally unstable. What Harvinder did is called violence in most simple terms, but even in most complex words we can not define what Politicians and officials to the masses. We forget the incident and started living again. Living but not with Pride.
A few months Later, Rinku Singh Rahi, a PCS officer with Uttar Pradesh Government, protested against rampant corruption in Social Welfare Department of Uttar Pradesh. The government, instead of hearing his justified demands tried its best to give mental unstability certificate to him. He was taken to a mental hospital in lucknow. Thanks to the doctors who denied to declare him mad. The incident could not even make it to the headlines of the National dailies. We forget this too and starting living. Living but not with Dignity.
And now on 30th April, Arzoo Alam, A Journalism student in Delhi University tried to set himself on fire after his calls for justice were ignored at every level of Governance and society.
Before taking this step, Arzoo has written to VC of the university, CM of Delhi and Bihar, Ministries of HRD and Minority Affairs and Even the Prime Minister of this great democracy. But nobody spared a minute to give thought to well justified demands of student, who belongs to a backward community and a very poor family, work 8 hours a day to support his studies. Disappointed and Disheartened Arzoo when denied permission to appear in the practical examinations try to commit suicide.
And what our system did? The police arrested him and sent him to mental hospital. He was produced in the court and the Judge sent him to mental hospital IHBAS again. It happened in the National Capital, the student belongs to one of most prestigious universities in India, ie Delhi University and the Irony is you are even not aware of this incident.
You may not know that a student, who asked for his rights, tried to expose corruption in campus by filing RTI’s is on verge of being declared mentally unstable or unfit to live among us, the civilized class of silence and peace loving people.
And if you know then think that why it is happening, why you are so helpless and self centred that you can not even speak against this injustice? Think before the government even ban free thinking in this nation.
And please do not just think but do something so as those who want to see India a better place, a place with people living with dignity, pride and smile on their faces can not be sent to mental asylums.
