Swords that cut our society
A week will soon pass since the Easter day attack on two Panjimites by an insane sword attack by Zaine Keith Almeida, the son of the owner of a security agency who handles surveillance and security of the Marriot hotel. As Rafeal Da Costa is struggling to get out of his trauma and grappling with incoherent memory and a sense of where he is, the other Raju Sarin is recuperating at home, with just one thought. If the sword used by Almeida had been a mere two millimetres closer to his jugular, he would be lying in a morgue. Rafael has lost his eye, his optical nerve severed by the intensity of Zaine Keith Almeida’s blow.
The legal process will play out to figure if the act was done with the intention of causing death or of causing such bodily injury likely to cause death; or with the knowledge that it would cause death without an intention to cause it,(IPC 304), or whether it was a premeditated act with the intent to murder, when the grievousness of the injury is not important (IPC 307).
Justice for Rafeal Da Costa and Raju Sarin is non negotiable, but citizens of Panjim in particular and almost everyone in Goa need to realise that we as a society have changed and cannot blame “outsiders” for this. To stretch the argument of how we don’t look within, let us imagine what the narrative would be if the attacker happened to be from outside the state by birth even if he was living here for the rest of his life. The entire rage of collective consciousness would have boiled over to an outsider versus insider issue. It is for this reason alone that a Zaine Keith Almeida attacking a Rafael Da Costa holds a mirror to our decaying society. That is the first lesson. The absolute lack of fear of the law because of the ability to use connections, which prompts young boys with a car at their disposal and a girl in their arm, to carry weapons of murder is the second.
It is a measure of extreme comfort that the PI of Panjim has assured the victim’s family that he would ensure that this case is foolproof in order to secure conviction. It is also learnt that certain “strings” that were sought to be pulled by the family of the accused, which included the Deputy Chief Minister Francis D’Souza, have failed. Even one of Goa’s most prominent industrialists who is involved with one of the establishments the accused father is connected to, has refused to come to the aid of the accused stating that this act deserves no support.
It is not enough to demand police action. It is imperative that we as citizens see this as a crucial call for action. Sensitisation is needed at the grassroots, values need to be inculcated at home and in institutions and even young adults need a minimum supervision and control. That is why the immediate call to restrict bar timings to midnight and even suggesting a ban on alcohol smacks of miopic vision. That is a different argument and debate altogether. This is a society in veritable churn and the problem lies in the values on which a Goan child is brought up.This value erosion is a far bigger battle than reduced bar timings because Goa, we thought had not quite joined the club of Delhi, Bombay, Patna or Lucknow where the young carry guns and knives with as much ease as smart phones. We painfully know that we belong to the same club now.
While we fight this battle we must ensure that Zaine Keith Almeida gets a punishment so severe, that no other arrogant and completely spoilt son of a well connected father does not turn healthy young men with futures ahead, into vegetables, by the swish of his sword.
