Medieval savagery

The horrific killing of a youth at a busy traffic intersection in Coimbatore has evoked alarm and public outrage. A CCTV camera captured the murder in gruesome detail. It shows the youth being stoned, kicked and beaten mercilessly by four other men and left bleeding on the road. Apparently, the victim, Kumar and his assailants were drinking. Kumar inadvertently brushed past one of the others, which led to an altercation and fisticuffs.

But it didn’t end there. Kumar and his friend were pursued by the others and while the friend fled, Kumar was beaten to death. Few will be unmoved after seeing the CCTV footage. That a murder can take place on a busy city street and in broad daylight is alarming.

But more shocking than the killing itself is the role of the onlookers. The footage reveals that the bludgeoning to death of Kumar took place in full public view. It was not as though those present at the scene of the killing were in a minority. There were scores of them. They were in a position of strength and could have intervened to stop the murder.

Some of them stood around and watched as mute spectators. Others looked from the
safety of their vehicles. When the traffic lights changed they moved on as if nothing had happened. None of them thought it necessary to halt the assault or take the profusely bleeding victim in their vehicle.

The incident underscores how insensitive we have become. A man is murdered before our eyes and we don’t intervene to stop it. Has ‘reality television’ fully destroyed our capacity to react to the real world? Was this just another bloody ‘episode’ for the onlookers to discuss later with their buddies over a bottle of beer?

So inured have we become to watching violence and perhaps even enjoying it from the comfort of our couches at home, that when it happens for real, we respond to a violent killing as if it were just another spectator sport. We ‘watch the fun’ and do nothing to halt the violence.

The footage has laid bare the bestiality not just of the killers but the onlookers too. Every one of them has blood on their hands as they abetted the murder by not acting to stop it. They must be tried for having enabled the killing. The footage should help police identify the onlookers as well.