Young & Violent

Editorial:-

The news report of a gang of around six persons, most of whom are in their early to mid twenties, ambushing a 74 year old in a reasonably remote part of rural Sikkim was front-paged in yesterday’s edition of this newspaper was not only for its sensationalism value. The story is admittedly sensational, but the need to highlight it was the dangerous trend it points towards – the worry that there are youth around who can, irrespective of the provocation, set upon a septuagenarian like a pack of animals. What prompted the attack is not clear, it could have been a robbery or even payback for some slight. But the reason is not as important as the fact that something like this happened. A society where its young can resort to such violence should be worried.

Sikkim has often heard its leaders, both in the ruling and the Opposition camps, hold forth on how the State could witness a violent movement if the unemployment situation was not contained. In fact, after the experience of the recent elections, the word “youth” now connotes almost the same negativity as “police” or “politician”. But to claim that unemployment will somehow deliver a violent “movement” to Sikkim is too simplistic and even misplaces inference. While unemployed, and therefore frustrated youth, do provide the fodder for such ‘movements,’ Sikkim does not have a history of violent uprisings. It is unlikely that history will be rewritten on this front. What is cause for more worry is the dangerous trend of the rising graph of very violent and absolutely senseless acts of crime [like the one mentioned above]. These are reported often in normal times and also delivered two violent deaths in the run up to the elections. The two deaths were clearly a result of “political violence”, but that was a violence unleashed not due to ideological differences, but mad rage and a disregard for consequences. This is the trend and mindset that needs to be curtailed.

As mentioned earlier, it would be too simplistic to suggest that the crimes were the handiwork of unemployed and desperate youth. Unemployment does not lead everyone to crime, a weak social fabric does. There will be those who point out that most crimes are committed by “outsiders,” but when they do so, they are only covering up for the failures of society which has developed yawning gaps through which such violent crimes find expression.