Mind the gap
Sir — Yama and his assistant, Chitragupta, must be overburdened with work. Why else would the god of death apparate on earth to save lives? Two individuals dressed as Yama and Chitragupta, respectively, recently took to performing long jumps over yawning potholes on the streets of Udupi, Karnataka. They even got some other people dressed as departed souls to accompany them in this activity, which was aimed at grabbing the government’s attention and goading it to fix the roads. According to the latest data, 1,856 people in India died owing to pothole-related accidents in 2022. The god of death must have been frustrated with this large number of casualties for him to try and save lives instead of deciding the fate of the dead.
Banhishikha Dey, Bengaluru
Serious concern
Sir — Both the president, Droupadi Murmu, and the prime minister, Narendra Modi, have raised concerns over the rape and murder of the postgraduate trainee doctor at the R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital. But merely expressing concern is not enough. The politicisation of a single rape incident is unfortunate. Rape is a far bigger challenge. It is the patriarchal mindset of society, which allows the perpetration of crimes against women, that needs to be rectified. Although fast-track justice may help reduce incidents of rape, the sentencing in such cases should be severe — perhaps even a death penalty — in order for it to be a deterrent in the long term.
S. Kamat, Mysuru
Sir — The president and the prime minister are in the same boat. Their condemnation of the rape and murder of a doctor at the R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital is in stark contrast to their deafening silence on the atrocities on women in Manipur and the sexual assault of two minor girls in Maharashtra. Their selective response to incidents of crime belies their partisanship.
Murtaza Ahmad, Calcutta
Sir — T.M. Krishna has rightly wondered whether there would have been as much of a “national reaction” as in the case of the R.G. Kar incident if the victim had been from the LGBTQ community (“Difficult questions”, Aug 30). Similarly, it should also be asked whether there would have been an uproar of this magnitude had the victim hailed from an impoverished background or from a marginalised community. Nearly 49 cases of crimes against women are registered every hour in India. The reality is that it took the rape of an urban, educated woman from a dignified profession to jolt the conscience of the nation. This kind of selective outrage is based on class consciousness and exposes society’s hypocrisy.
However, Krishna’s argument that capital punishment cannot be a deterrent
to rape is flawed. The guarantee of being punished with the death penalty will be instrumental in reducing crimes against women.
Kajal Chatterjee, Calcutta
Sir — Whether the death sentence can solve India’s rape problem has been the topic of endless debate. Unfortunately, no government has been able to find effective ways to prevent rape. This is because rape and other crimes inflicted on women are the outcome of patriarchy and are rooted in gender discrimination — differential treatment is meted out to a boy child and a girl child during their upbringing. Until gender bias
is eradicated, injustices against women will continue to be a reality.
T. Ramadas, Visakhapatnam
Stern message
Sir — The Union external affairs minister, S. Jaishankar, recently said that the era of dialogue with Pakistan is over, asserting that India would henceforward resort to taking strict actions in dealing with its neighbour. Such a no-nonsense approach has been long overdue. India has had to bear the brunt of Pakistan-sponsored terror attacks for decades. In recent months, there has been a strategic shift in the focus of such attacks from the Kashmir Valley to the Jammu region. Jaishankar’s statement will thus not only boost the morale of the defence forces but also send out a clear warning to Pakistan.
Avinash Godboley, Dewas, Madhya Pradesh
Steady growth
Sir — It is heartening that Indian stock markets have been on an upward trajectory for the past months; the Sensex has witnessed a rise of almost 14% since the beginning of 2024. This points to the growing exuberance of investors — they are no longer confined only to the larger companies and are looking to invest in smaller companies as well. However, there are legitimate concerns about certain stocks in the smallcap and the midcap segments that have been trading at unreasonable valuations. Apprehensions that companies are propagating an unrealistic assessment of their operations to offload their shares at higher prices cannot be overlooked.
M. Jeyaram, Sholavandan, Tamil Nadu
Justice, finally
Sir — A Delhi trial court has ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation to frame charges against the Congress leader, Jagdish Tytler, for the death of three people in the anti-Sikh riots case (“40 years on, nod to charges on Tytler”, Aug 31). This shows that justice delayed is not always justice denied. The CBI must frame the charge sheet at the earliest to bring justice to the aggrieved.
Jahar Saha, Calcutta
Artful expression
Sir — September 1 is celebrated as World Letter Writing Day. In an era of digital messages, there is something charming about the art of letter writing. The day serves as a reminder of the emotional impact that a handwritten letter can have.
Ranganathan Sivakumar, Chennai
