hidden image

Let the Slaps Stop...!

Robert Clements Robert Clements
17 Jun 2024

It was a tight slap on actress Kangana that left its mark!

An act that should be condemned, however much we try to justify the reason behind it. It was not done by some angry member of the public but carried out by one in uniform who was supposed to guard and protect citizens.

A guardian of the law broke the law.

But in that slap, lawbreaking has come full circle.

In the last ten years, hooligans, thugs, ruffians, and rapists have been shown the blind eye. Vigilante mobs have roamed the country, thrashing, assaulting and lynching those who followed another dietary preference to theirs. They've stopped trucks carrying animals whose taste they did not subscribe to, beat and killed owners and drivers.

They've looked into homes where women cooked and if their noses smelt smells their own kitchens ne'er produced, they seized those meals meant for the poor and hungry who couldn't afford what these mobsters ate.

They mobbed what was once a peaceful nation, rushing into places of worship where citizens worshipped in ways different from theirs, broke walls, burnt sacred objects, like crosses and altars, molested worshippers, thrashed priests, and with jeers and cries of jubilation, went to the next.

They separated couples in the name of love jihad, pulling women away from their lawful wedded spouses and murdered those men who dared fall in love with another from another faith.

They marched into hospitals, smashed X-ray machines, ransacked operation theatres, threw cancer patients from their wards, and thrashed and injured doctors.

They shot journalists dead, point blank, whose writings they cared not for, and scared the rest into silent submission.

They added these new 'slap' freedoms to their list of 'breakable laws' pinned to their sleeves.

They ran into college campuses, pulled out those who thought differently and battered them, whether they wore trousers or skirts.

They stopped cars on highways. Raped women travelling in them. They stopped screening films whose plots they did not understand. They followed tourists, and if perchance they did not allow a selfie with them, beat them up, groped their women, and left them wounded, bloodied, and, oft-times, dead.

"Stop!" shouted their leaders as the world asked questions. "Stop!" they cried as foreign presidents commented on how unsafe the country had become. "Stop, before it is too late!"

But it was too late. Because violence, once set free, obeys no handler. And when the one in uniform beats their own master or mistress, as was this case, then you know that with that resounding slap, violence had come full circle.

But hush! There is a second chance today: The people, even as they condemn this slap, also want other slaps to stop; lynching, police brutality, unfair laws, rapes and murders. And other violence created by the tongue; jeering, sneering, ridiculing!

Let the slaps stop...!

Recent Posts

Close at the heel of our other neighbours, Nepal's journey has swung between hope and betrayal. The monarchy fell, the republic faltered, and now its youth demand dignity, justice, and a future free f
apicture A. J. Philip
15 Sep 2025
The recent Vice-Presidential election has exposed deep cracks in India's democracy. Cross-voting, intimidation, abstentions, and invalid ballots have raised serious doubts. It ultimately begs the ques
apicture M L Satyan
15 Sep 2025
September 11 carries memories of violence and division, but also of Gandhi's Satyagraha and Vivekananda's call to end fanaticism. In a world scarred by war, injustice, and hate, 9/11 must challenge us
apicture Cedric Prakash
15 Sep 2025
India may soon become the world's third-largest economy, but its low per capita income, unmitigated inequality, weak healthcare, and fragile education system reveal a different truth. GDP milestones a
apicture Jacob Peenikaparambil
15 Sep 2025
Modi's long-delayed visit to Manipur are mere optics. After two years of silence amid ethnic cleansing, displacement, and inhumanity by the Meiteis, what peace, protection of minorities, and restorati
apicture Dr Manoj Kumar Mishra
15 Sep 2025
Umar Khalid, the Jawaharlal Nehru University scholar who has spent more than five years in jail, on Thursday, September 11, told a Delhi court that the larger Conspiracy case in connection with the 20
apicture Joseph Maliakan
15 Sep 2025
Looking back at the 100 years of Medical Mission Sisters, there was a pioneering spirit to begin health care facilities for the less privileged, openness to look at themselves critically to make their
apicture Sr. Mary Pullattu, MMS
15 Sep 2025
Though declared a secular republic in 2008, the nation's legal and cultural frameworks remain steeped in Hindu-majority sentiment. Nepal's National Penal Code of 2017 criminalises religious conversion
apicture CM Paul
15 Sep 2025
To be a "Carmelite on the street" is to unite deep prayer with public courage. We must build interior castles yet opening their gates, carrying contemplation into classrooms, farms, protests, and parl
apicture Gisel Erumachadathu, ASI
15 Sep 2025
In today's India, more than flyovers or metros, what we desperately need are bridges. Bridges between communities. Bridges between faiths. Bridges strong enough to carry us into the future without col
apicture Robert Clements
15 Sep 2025