The stress of urban life in which human beings exist like sardines in a tin may be difficult to handle. But when parents show no compassion while dealing with their offspring, as a “monster” New Delhi couple did to draw the ire of a trial court, they don’t even deserve to be called “human”.
It’s shocking how that couple could systematically torture the man’s son from his first wife. As a species that kills others, not for food but for pleasure, while also showing total apathy for a number of disappearing species, it’s not necessary to regard homo sapiens high among our planet’s inhabitants. Systematic inflicting of pain on stepchildren, the stuff of television soaps but not real life, is yet another reason why humans rate so low.
It’s difficult to police such cases as the victims usually are very young and timid, and we have only ourselves to blame. What about the carelessness of parents who left their little girl sleeping in a car in a “no parking” zone, only to be towed away by an equally uncaring police force? The blame lies most with the parents, who didn’t think twice about leaving their child in a locked car. Of course police officers who towed the car away aren’t blameless either, but they are less culpable than parents who didn’t seem to consider a young child shouldn’t be left alone. It’s sad to see that the animal kingdom can throw up far better examples of parenting with greater care.