This is a reaction from a student who has been in an Indian
college a few years back and has now gone to US for higher studies. His
and his friend's views reflect what the Indian youth think about the Delhi
Porn case and related issues.
The first reaction of my friends when they heard about the 5-year sentence
was, "You've got to be kidding!" I've summarized their and my sentiments
on the matter below.
One of the key things to note is that this is a first of its kind, in
India and that alone will guarantee an ample amount of media and legal
attention. The tendency in such a situation is to make a statement rather
than subjectively analyze the matter on hand. Having said that, I do not
mean to belittle the problem in any sense.
How do we characterize the severity of a crime? One might argue that
robbery is not so serious a crime compared to say reckless driving leading
to a motor accident. However, if you were to ask the guy who got mugged,
chances are he'll consider robbery as the worst kind of crime since he
was a victim. But of course, the law of the land has to make distinctions
between various types of crime so that suitable punishment may be meted
out.
Coming to this case, 5 year sentence seems way too harsh. Ground him
for a month or whatever. Cut him off from the Net for say 6 months. The
point is punishments should mean big at his level. No TV for a year would
be a death sentence for a 16 year old!
Things have to be considered in perspective. With the advent of the
relatively free economy leading to an increased influence of the Western
culture and ideas and more particularly with the proliferation of the Net,
things have drastically changed. The mindset of the people, however has
not matched the pace of events which is of course natural, given the fact
it is a tendency of humans to resist to any sort of change. If it had been
an adult had put up porno pictures on the net, I would have simply said,
"big deal!" and moved on. What causes concern is that this kid did such
a thing.
Sometime ago, we (in our mailing list....we=my friends from krec most
of whom are software engrs.) were having a discussion on something similar.
What happened was the following. A 16-year old kid (my friend's brother)
was caught by his parents perusing Playboy. And naturally, the parents
blew their top at that poor guy. But we guys thought it was simply an over-reaction.
I mean, what's wrong in that guy looking at playboy, given the fact that
he is 16! (I suspect you too will have a reaction similar to the parents!).
Making porno viewing illegal is stupid, to say the least.
Coming to the question of the kids and the role of school/parents etc.,
I don't think its practical to expect the schools to take swift and immediate
action to protect such occurrences in the future. But as first steps, the
teachers should always hang around the machines when the kids are surfing.
After all, the schools don't have huge labs and it wont be a difficult
to keep on eye on 10 or 20 or 30 machines! Issue strict warnings to the
kids to dissuade them from doing anything stupid. Scare them. Put up a
camera in the lab and make it clear to the kids that the camera's eyes
are always watching them. After all, cameras today are dirt cheap. One
can get a network camera for say 80 bucks.
I strongly believe that the net is simply not for the kids. I mean,
let us think. What possible new thing can the kids gain from the Net that
they cannot get from conventional sources? The last time I checked, the
library was still around! Until the kids are mature to judge what's right,
what's wrong, until they can be responsible for their actions, the Net
should be an out-of-limits place for them. Why should the teachers send
the kids on expeditions on the Net to fetch information? This craze to
jump on to anything and everything new is really ridiculous.
In every endeavor there is a price to pay to gain something. In sending
kids to the net, I see more harm than good. Pornography is just one of
them. What if he/she gets hold of your credit card? The kid might not do
anything intentionally. But a click here and a click there and you don't
know where you are or how you got there!
Naresh, P Cuntoor
Do readers have a views on this? or suggestions?. If so, Your
views can be sent here