By Salil Gewali

The ghastly murder of Shraddha Walker of Maharashtra (India) by her live-in partner raises many uncomfortable questions about relationships built over the virtual world. How this is going to play out in the “future” in modern societies is unpredictable yet ominous. As usual, it is the woman who is at the receiving end. It is shocking, almost unbelievable that a person with whom one had shared everything under a single roof could turn into a predator and hack his female partner into 35 pieces and keep her body parts in the fridge for months together. This is how heartless and satanic humans in this digital age have become. Hope this frightful incident sends a message of alarm to millions of parents across the country. They should not sit back in complacency any longer. Hope it has also “alerted” our gullible adolescents who are tempted to look for partners through misleading apps on the net where males/females are assessed in terms of their external oomph instead of the human qualities they possess. What is disgusting is that such “devious portals” are allowed to do business. Amidst our “silence” they are carrying out their immoral business with a vengeance and thus misguiding our youths.

These applications/sites might even pop up with obscene images of females as advertisements on our Facebook pages or while checking emails or even visiting news websites. The deeper we delve the dirtier they get. These portals/apps, all portray women as commodities to be preyed upon. Only a few women’s organizations have taken note of these apps but without a concerted effort across the country, it is difficult to fight these app honchos.

                Look at another news carried a couple of days back by INDIA TODAY that a boy from Kanpur (India) has threatened to cut a minor girl into pieces if she would reject his proposal for the marriage. The boy was later arrested.

            Who disagrees now that “lust” without “ethics” is not a serious threat to humanity? If a sense of morality were ever present in the mind of Aftab Poonawalla, he would not at all have pulled the dagger to take Shraddha’s life. Was it a crime for a female to implore the male partner to marry her after having lived together for over four years? It is understood that Shraddha’s insistence on marriage literally touched Poonawalla’s raw nerve. The way girl’s body was chopped and put into a freezer and then thrown away part by part takes a great deal of courage, which Aftab did with all care and ease. Nothing is more abominable than the fact Arfat has no “regret” in killing Shraddha. In the meantime, he rather showed his beastly audacity to entice many other girls into such relationship. What is so disquieting is his “targets” were all Hindu girls. This clearly show his ulterior motive, maybe driven by wrong conviction and ambition.

Another concern is what are those things that have “misled” the increasing number of young girls who easily fall for the wrong persons? Also, what are those things that provoke the males to commit such heinous crimes without regret?  However, if we go by the reports or cases being handled by lawyers across the country these days, there are endless cases of “rapes followed by brutal murder/torture” of defenseless females. In some of the instances the perpetrators, with evil intention, have been suspected of having been encouraged by certain sinister forces. 

              Nevertheless, was the Court of law in India really wise in legalizing live-in relationship in the year 2006? Could it not foresee that that “lust-driven relationship” without “ethics”, which is so prevalent now, might end up in acrimony and bloodshed as well? It appears that the ruling has only widened the “credibility gap” of the judiciary. Of course, there is also “uproar” in the society against the various female-centric laws which are willfully misused by females bringing “untold grief” to countless males. It urgently calls for changes in judicial interpretation and flawed proposition that women can’t go wrong.

                   The sanctity of marriage should not be trivialized. This will quickly lead to social degeneration. I don’t think the police investigations and fact-findings alone will make the people any saner. The government need to list the main “causes” and adopt all corrective measures. Against the backdrop of how social values are eroding, with easy marital break-ups and immoral relationships, the government should consider banning all obscene representation of females and filthy videos and apps on the internet, which are uttering degrading, corrupting the minds of the people, especially younger children.

                      Yes, all these concerns and challenges should be taken on a war footing for the future of our vulnerable girls/boys, including married women and men. Lastly, one wishes that no grown-up child leaves their parents’ homes today to live with a heartless live-in partner to face nightmares tomorrow. We need to wake up before humanity is cut into pieces.