Suspended BJP leader, Seema Patra, wife of a former bureaucrat, has shamed the entire country by her beastly and inhuman act of inflicting pain and torture on her maid. The incident came to light when the Nation was celebrating the election of its first woman tribal President. The 29-year old Maid, also a tribal was rescued after the accused’s son, urged his friend to bring the matter to the notice of the police so action could be taken against his mother for her ghastly acts. The unrepentant suspect, tried to brush the matter under the carpet but the whistle blower’s persistent efforts yielded results and she was taken into custody before being remanded to 14 days judicial remand. The brutality and barbaric dimension of the illegal confinement and torture of the maid, should invite the most stringent action as per the law of the land. In fact, the police should also examine the role of her retired bureaucrat husband as to why he remained a mute spectator to the unlawful happenings in his own house. The question is whether there is a case of abetment made out against him. Equally important is to ascertain how the accused had sent her own son to a psychiatric facility and how did the doctors admit him there if he was not suffering from any mental disorder. The trauma suffered both by the maid and the suspect’s son must be unmeasurable. The maid who was subjected to regular beatings also had her front teeth smashed with an iron rod. She has suffered for over five years at the hands of this woman, who has brought disrepute to her fellow citizens. The BJP was quick to act and placed her under suspension. This is not a political matter but reflects the kind of society we live in even after 75 years of our independence. Seema Patra’s actions were similar to what happened to the Africans who were brought as slaves in the American continent and subjected to so many brutalities. The incident also focusses on the plight of our tribals and poorer sections, who continue to be exploited. The police must also examine the role of Maid employment agencies, who bring in tribal girls into big cities, strip them of their dignity by sexual abuse and make them work without proper remuneration. This kind of inhuman treatment has no place in civil society and has to be condemned and exposed by one and all. There are many Seema Patras out there in the society who can be also accused of similar crimes. There has to be something wrong with either our education or the way we are shaping as a country to allow such acts. There have been other shameful incidents that have taken place in the past fortnight. A Convent educated woman lawyer assaulted and abused the security guard of her high-end society in Noida by using the filthiest language. Thankfully the police acted and has put her away. In Gurgaon, a resident who got trapped in the Lift exploded on being rescued and repeatedly slapped the security guard who was not responsible for the Lift being stalled. Some days ago, in a case of road rage, a middle-aged man was assaulted with iron roads in the national capital and had it been not for the timely arrival of the police who were alerted by passer byes, he may have been dead. Every country has to set its own moral compass right if it has to progress. Politics has its own ways of doing things but the social fabric must not be allowed to disintegrate any further.
