18 year olds kidnap and kill a child in Chennai

Three boys kidnapped and subsequently killed a 11 year old boy in Chennai yesterday. The reason - they wanted to collect a ransom of 5 lacs and use the same for buying cell-phones and having a lavish new year party. Read the story here.

The cops have apprehended the CRIMINALS (i hate to call 18 year olds criminals, but pray give me another term for these boys), but are not sure how to proceed with the case. It is evident from the fact that they have not yet released the names of the apprehended. I guess the age of perpetrators is proving to be a problem.

One of the fundamental principles of our upbringing in India is "Always live within your means".
Another one (made very famous by Sanjay Dutt in Lage Raho Munna Bhai - Gandhigiri) is to follow a philosophy of "tolerance towards fellow humans".

In a society that abides by these principles at large, this crime is least to say shocking!!! What also makes it outrageous and unacceptable is the age of the perpetrators of this heinous crime.

Some questions that immediately come to mind:

1. Is materialism so deep-rooted in our society that boys of such an age committed this crime for what seems to me a TRIVIAL reason?
2. Was killing the child the only way of failure to beget the ransom?
3. What kind of upbringing have these boys had, that made these boys act with no mortal fear of retribution?
4. Should the parents of these boys also be held responsible for the crime?
5. How can we protect our children from these "DESPERATE WANNABEs"
6. How do we put the fear of god in people who would even consider committing such a crime?
7. Lastly, how do we weave the moral fabric of our society to minimize such instances?

We need to find these answers, if not for ourselves at least for the sake of our future generation.

In an address delivered at the Center for Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania, on November 9, 2006, Singapore’s distinguished diplomat and author, Ambassador Kishore Mahbubani, Dean of Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at National University of Singapore, makes three predictions about India:

1. First, Indians, unlike the Japanese, are going to wear less rather than more Western clothing as they emerge as a great power.
2. Second, India will continue with some of the finest political traditions it has inherited from the West: democracy, a respect for human rights, and respect for the rule of law. But, increasingly, Indians will start to claim these traditions as their own. A rediscovery of the ideas of Ashoka and Akbar in India could lead to an understanding that some of the best practices of Indian political culture predated the arrival of the West in India.
3. Third, with the growing detachment between the West and the East, India will once again resume its natural role as the meeting point for the great civilizations. At a time when many in the West are convinced that the West cannot co-exist in peace with the Islamic world, they should study how India has been able to accommodate so many civilizations -- including the Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic and Christian civilizations -- and how most of them have lived in peace with each other for most of the time. There is something unique about Indian political and social culture. There is a spirit of inclusiveness and tolerance that pervades the Indian spirit. Hence, while the West often tries to discuss the world in black and white terms, distinguishing itself from either the evil empire or the axis of evil, the Indian mind is able to see the world in many different colors.

He concludes:

"The Indian capacity for engaging other cultures and civilizations may well define India’s role in the relations between the West and the East. Certainly it can play an important bridging role but it could play an even bigger role. It could help to remove the sharp distinctions that seem to be growing between the West and the East. It could perhaps help to convince the leading minds in the West that they should stop seeing themselves as guardians and custodians of one leading civilization, the Western civilization. Instead, they should see themselves as guardians and custodians of ’human civilization’ . Convincing the West to adopt this new mindset will not be easy. A great crusade will be needed to convince the West that it is essentially no different from the East. India may well play a leading role in this crusade".