December 16, 2012 - Eyewitness' account of the gangrape...

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First, the pluses and minuses Plus 1. He indicated the loophole that people do not help because they are scared that police would trouble them with red tape later on, so something needs to be done about it. 2. He indicated that nearest hospital should be called in to assist, irrespective of whether it is a government hospital or not. 3. He indicated that the legal process takes too long, and surprise surprise...despite all that clear indication of whodunnit...we are giving fair trial..for god's sake, the girl is dead. 4. He indicated that since he is educated and has some lawyers in the family, he knew how to go about knocking the right doors for justice. There are several people out here in our country (Bhanwri Devi) who do not know the law and can therefore be sent from pillar to post for every small legal aspect. It is all very well to flash those things on television. Not many uneducated people know what is FIR and where are the police stations. 5. He indicated that police are ill equipped to handle such emergencies...why should they have been running to a hotel for fetching a fresh bedsheet...surely they can carry something like that along with first aid box if they are on night patrol.. Now minuses 1. He said police took several minutes to come. I think 4 to 5 minutes is reasonably prompt in the cold December night when fog does impair the vision. Perhaps it is the perception because of pain and the situation that he was in. 2. He said police were arguing about jurisdiction under which FIR is to be registered. I am ok with that because in all probability they were planning about whose vehicle the injured need to board - WHILE THEY WERE WAITING FOR A BEDSHEET from a nearby hotel. Being in pain the eyewitness might have felt each minute to as long as 5 minutes. Such perceptions happen. 3. He said people didnt care. They did. There were three police vehicles out there. Even if he called one, others must have called the other two, right? And even those who traveled in cars and slowed down must have called, but by the time, the control room people must have realized they were talking about the same accident. 4. He said people didnt care...but imagine in the middle of foggy cold night when you are intent on reaching home and out of blue you find somebody coming out suddenly on to the road with not so visible blood but walking in a way that is more of staggering like that of drunkard. Remember the girl was lying down...and many homeless do lie on the sides of the roads...and there was no vehicle with this couple to judge it as an accident. Right? Most people care...they might have mistaken him to be a drunkard..trying to create nuisance...iron rod in his head was barely visible. It is not a flourescent object, is it...and the lights of a vehicle are not positioned on the head level of a person. Some might have got scared too. So it is not as if people didnt care. I hope media explains it to him, and I hope he understands and accepts the possibility because people have been praying for him and the girl almost everyday. 5. He said people didnt care...some may have called ambulances of some hospitals that they knew. Unfortunately, those ambulances might have been simply too far and there is red tape in every hospital regarding ambulances...after all, somebody has to incur the charges...and a paramedic needs to be around at the right time. So people care..and I feel it is a wrong perception on the part of the eye witness. 6. He said it was he who loaded the girl on the vehicle. I dont think so..I think it is impossible to do that alone - he didnt look like Salman Khan, Hrithik Roshan, or Akshay Kumar or Aamir Khan who do push ups everyday to be carrying a girl with fracture of leg and badly bruised arms. In fact, he looked as if he had a belly - lazy belly like me. He might have done something that was fairly independent but he might be recollecting it wrongly or has answered it wrongly due to leading questions. Indian media should learn not to bring in lies into such cases..it reduces the gravity of the incident in the mind of others, who will start questioning everything that they are told. 7. Police...their role...their training...while I agree that the eye-witness' perceived every minute delay as five minutes delay ...due to pain and not deliberately, I will also question that do police people have to be trained to pull out their sweater and cover the girl till the bedsheet arrives? They would definitely not die of biting cold but the girl with that kind of injuries would. 8. Police their role...taking to safdarjung hospital or government hospital...may be as per rule book or training but wouldnt they have liked to take the victim to a near by hospital had it been their sister or their daughter? This is the one that stinks...really stinks. All they had to do was call their seniors tell them that injuries seem fatal and so they want to go to a private hospital closeby till the required assistance with ambulance and paramedics can be got...30 minutes drive after remaining almost 30 minutes on the road. You gotta be kidding me that police care. 9. We the people...if we look down upon the police ...who quite often try to do their duties, but have become indifferent to their jobs because of interference from above (politicians) due to which they cant really get promotions and do well in their lives, do we really have a protection of any sort? We may throw one officer out or one constable out today. That does not mean there would be no more mistakes. We all make mistakes. I am not saying we forgive wholeheartedly, but I am saying understand them also so that they dont become anti us. They are also humans. Sorry for the length...but do you take everything that media presents to you at the face value?