The 2008 Hindi movie, ‘A Wednesday’ depicts a retired police commissioner narrating a sequence of events that unfolded on a particular Wednesday. An unnamed man calls to inform that he has placed explosives at different crowded spots in the city. To ensure that they do not explode, he asks for the release of four arrested terrorists.
But when the terrorists are taken to his stated location, they are blown by a bomb. The unnamed man has avenged the terrorist attack that killed innocents. His task done, he destroys all his gadgets and leaves to run into the commissioner who has identified him on the basis of a face sketch and by hacking his location.
The film ends with the voiceover of the commissioner saying that the man told him his real name but he does not wish to reveal it since doing so would give away the man's religion. And it would change the context of the intent of the man’s actions.
Disclosing the identity of rape victim remains a grey area. Even when protected by an Indian Penal Code, the media and those on social media err on the side of caution. For three years, the identity of the girl everyone referred to as Nirbhaya or the fearless one was legally ‘concealed’ even though her name was thrown up careless persons.
In today’s times of the information boom, prejudiced posturing is dependent on ‘name’. The response depends not on humane values of justice but on the context of the names of the aggressors as well as the victims. It changes depending whether the ‘name’ is one from ‘among us’ or the ‘others’.
Some of us wear tinted glasses. Our response is based on the ‘name’. We must not allow our prejudice to jaundice our perception. The act of a criminal or the plight of a victim has to be seen for what it is, not for their name. Names are just incidental labels. It is the criminal or the casualty that must be responded to aptly. Unnamed!
The unnamed eventually ensure a factual tale
Sans prejudice setting us off on a wrong sail!
~ Pravin Sabnis
But when the terrorists are taken to his stated location, they are blown by a bomb. The unnamed man has avenged the terrorist attack that killed innocents. His task done, he destroys all his gadgets and leaves to run into the commissioner who has identified him on the basis of a face sketch and by hacking his location.
The film ends with the voiceover of the commissioner saying that the man told him his real name but he does not wish to reveal it since doing so would give away the man's religion. And it would change the context of the intent of the man’s actions.
Disclosing the identity of rape victim remains a grey area. Even when protected by an Indian Penal Code, the media and those on social media err on the side of caution. For three years, the identity of the girl everyone referred to as Nirbhaya or the fearless one was legally ‘concealed’ even though her name was thrown up careless persons.
In today’s times of the information boom, prejudiced posturing is dependent on ‘name’. The response depends not on humane values of justice but on the context of the names of the aggressors as well as the victims. It changes depending whether the ‘name’ is one from ‘among us’ or the ‘others’.
Some of us wear tinted glasses. Our response is based on the ‘name’. We must not allow our prejudice to jaundice our perception. The act of a criminal or the plight of a victim has to be seen for what it is, not for their name. Names are just incidental labels. It is the criminal or the casualty that must be responded to aptly. Unnamed!
The unnamed eventually ensure a factual tale
Sans prejudice setting us off on a wrong sail!
~ Pravin Sabnis
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