Humanity. What's that?

I did not know Rahul till he was shot dead on a Mumbai bus yesterday morning. Everyday, hundreds of people are shot dead in many parts of the world; there is nothing unusual about it, especially for those in our profession who deal with such “stories” day in and day out. But Rahul’s death was not only untimely but also uncalled for.

Last evening, a debate started at our desk whether Rahul Raj — a youth from Patna seeking job in Mumbai — should have been killed by trigger-happy men in khaki. Rahul was not a terrorist, neither he had a criminal past. Yet, the policemen showed him no mercy, as apparently he did not relent to the surrender orders by the men in uniform. His only fault was firing about six rounds from a country-made pistol injuring one on the Mumbai bus on Diwali-eve. It’s nothing serious for .303-toting policemen for being provoked, but their logic to open fire on an employed youth was funnier: Rahul threatened to kill Raj Thackeray.

The basic question is why the policemen did not show restraint. Was Rahul’s crime was more harmful than that of Thackeray’s? While Thackeray was given foolproof security round the clock even after taking the hub of financial activities to ransom for days and unleashing terror on people from Hindi heartland, could not Rahul ask for a bit of humanity? Probably not. First, he did not speak Marathi. Second, he tried his hands on some job in Mumbai apparently kept reserved for people willing to rebuild Maharashtra anew.

When some of us still think it was fully justified to kill an unemployed youth — who had been pushed to that end when all hopes for survival with a Patna tag in Mumbai were thin — on a bus for brandishing gun power, why can’t the police encounter high-profile terrorists jailed in Delhi or Srinagar or Guwahati? Why do we have to see our foreign minister handing over a dreaded terrorist —who had conspired and killed thousands of women and children — for safe release of 100-odd air passengers? Will the terrorists and politicians call the shots and youths hoping to get a job would be killed in acts of cowardice? This is India, a secular, multilingual, multicultural country. Jai Hind!