What "Falling In Love" Means in India?? Humiliation and Death.

People say that Love is the purest thing on Earth, yeah i believe it; we all do, right?? Love from Mom is the greatest of all, then father and siblings. There is the last Love that is special for everyone; all living things on Earth; a different one. Before Teenage we have Puppy Love, during Teenage we get infatuation and then in Adolescent age comes the Mature Love. People try to find their partner, and fall in Love.

Before falling for someone, we will be awaiting for that moment but while being in Love "some" may regret for the partner they have chosen. Good and Bad; both choices are out there in the world.

When compared to one side of the coin, if falling in Love means HEAVEN, the other side is HELL.

WHAT IF THE TRIBAL PEOPLE FIND OUT THAT THE PERSON OF THEIR TRIBE IS IN LOVE WITH ANOTHER PERSON WHO IS OUT OF THEIR CASTE??

Like an alarm before the upcoming Valentine's day - 2014, a blood chilling incident had taken place in West Bengal.

All tribal groups try to maintain their ethnic rules by following strict rules and regulations especially in associating with people out of their tribe; specifically on Marriages.

"A 20 year-old girl who was accused of falling in love with a guy out of her tribe, was ordered to be raped as she did not have enough money to pay as a fine."

This one line is enough to bring fury into the people minds.

The girl was imposed a fine of Rs. 50,000 and the guy was fined a sum of Rs. 25,000 by the Khap Panchayat (Kangaroo court) which is monitoring the activities in the village. As the girl was unable to pay that much amount, the head of the Panchayat ordered the men of that village to rape her as a punishment. There were nearly 12 people who indulged in it whom she called as brothers, uncles and even grandpa's from her neighborhood. Whether the family came to her rescue is out of question here. They were all supposed to follow the judgement it seems.

Didn't the thought that she belonged to their tribe ever came in their mind?? Every day she had been seeing them with respect and treated them as one of her relations, after this incident how will she ever have respect for them?? It would have been better if she was killed rather than facing such humiliations and betrayal. No one had the guts to stop the incident from happening, afraid of the rulers?? If it had been the daughter of the Panchayat head, he wouldn't have let this happen.

The disgusting news is that the village is defending the accused, as reported by the medias.

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Village defends Bengal gang-rape accused

The dusty hamlet, some 30km from the district headquarters of Suri, does not show any sign of remorse for the horror that has shamed Bengal before the world yet again. The women vehemently defend their men, insisting that they have been "trapped in a conspiracy." They tried to stop police from entering the village to arrest the suspects and blocked journalists, too, to "stop them from demeaning their culture".

Their defiance is striking: children and elderly stand hand-in-hand to express their solidarity. They insist the girl had to be punished because she was "caught in a compromising position with a married man of another village". "Some of our boys rounded up the duo and brought them to the village. We tied them up but didn't ask our men to rape her, nor did we demand money. Our elders told the girl to leave the village if she wants to stay with that man. She threatened us that she will not yield. She spoke to someone in Hindi and went to police to get our men arrested," claimed a woman. They barricaded police, forcing additional SP (Birbhum) Prasanta Kumar Chowdhury to call up additional forces. "Our men are innocent. Why are police interfering in our daily lives?" shouted a mother of four.

The ASI posted outside the girl's hut says he cannot recollect the last time police entered the village. "Perhaps, they don't realize they have overstepped the law of the land by several miles," he said.

The lack of education is evident in the village. Ironically, the girl and her lover met while they were both working on the village's school building. "We always wanted to educate our children," said a woman, whose husband has been arrested for the gang rape. She adds with sudden anger: "It is this under-construction school that has brought shame to our village. It's here that the two met. She has brought disrespect to our community."

A 3km drive on a dusty, pebbled track brings you to this hamlet. It seems to be caught in a conundrum - between urbanity and tribal tradition. With Suri just 30km away, the urban effect is evident here. The youth wear jeans and women wear nightgowns. A few have mobile phones. The village doesn't look as neat and tidy as Santhal villages do. Electricity hasn't gone to their homes but they hook up with the main transmission lines. "Like you, our youths are up to date. They will never indulge in all this," said a woman.

No one admits being present during the gang rape.

"I was not there when the incident took place. My uncle Bolai Murdy was the former Morol (headman). But he was unhappy when my father Buju Hembram took over. Hence, it was he who passed the verdict on the girl," says Sumir Hembram, Buju's son. He is quick to point out that the girl "was bad" and had even "visited Delhi and spoke in Hindi". "Tell me how are they so well off?" he asks.

About 10km away, the lover's village is equally tense. His family got a call on Tuesday morning to pay Rs 25,000 or see him dead. "My brother-in-law was forced to sell off his soon-to-be-married daughter's jewellery to raise the money," said his wife. They have a 10-year-old son and a daughter. "Please see that my husband returns," she adds, breaking down. "I have no hard feelings for the victim. She is like my sister and is going through a lot of pain."

A delegation of Bharat Jakat Majhi Maroa, a Santhal social organization, visited the village on Thursday. Opel Murdy, a representative, said the incident had shamed the entire tribal society but he, too, did not deny that a "system of punishment" existed in their community. "We strongly condemn the torture on the girl. We shall try to remove the misunderstandings but we cannot totally deny the system of community-headman. It has many good sides too."
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Clearly we can see that none is afraid of the laws anymore. The laws in India are too weak that the accused may get off with the case if they bribe the officials. Such disgusting trauma caused to women makes the innocent men feel ashamed.

After facing the economic downfall, now comes the humiliation to way of living in India. If this situation continues then I am afraid for the security of my mother, relations and siblings; we all do...!!

In the modern world we are trying to change to cope with the modern world, but that doesn't mean that we are totally neglecting our Indian Culture. In the name of preserving the traditional cultures in India, we must not support violences against both genders.

India is facing terrible situation which had been in existence long back but considerably increased after the December 2012 Delhi gang rape.

We, the young minds, must hope and do something good for a better India.

"No one has right to physically or mentally hurt living beings"