On the fateful night of July 20, Vinay Jindal lost his life in a road accident when a speeding car rammed into his scooty, hurling him five metres away. But Vinay wasn’t the only casualty that night, with him the faith in humanity and hope of resurrecting empathy in the society, also suffered a fatal blow.
Though the accident took place on Monday near the Kasturba Nagar traffic signal, the CCTV footage emerged on Friday and went viral. It shows the car getting away after throwing Vinay off his vehicle.
The shocking part
But the greater shock came later, when each and every passerby turned a blind eye to the boy lying helplessly on the road. Not one driver came to help or even stopped, they just slowed down and drove off, leaving Vinay to struggle for his life all by himself. The driver, like other hit and run offenders, was surely inhuman, but what stopped the others who drove by?
The 20-year-old scholarship student of BBA, who funded his studies by giving tuitions to neighbourhood children, was on his way to buy medicines for his widowed mother. The tragedy forced the family to cancel his sister’s wedding which was supposed to take place two days later.
The ordeal lasted ten minutes till the police control room received a call and rushed Vinay to the nearest hospital. By that time Vinay had lost a lot of blood which left no hope for saving his life. Had Vinay been helped immediately, a life would have been saved.
Who is responsible?
Be it the Nirbhaya case or the case of a girl dying in Mumbai because no one helped her, the same apathy is on display and causes mass outrage. Reactions ranging from anger to despair are seen and then the issue subsides. But nothing really changes.
Whatever might be the reason, how can a lack of empathy of this size be explained? Is our humanity restricted only till the point of expressing disgust and coming up with sympathetic words? Is the fear of getting into a ‘tangle’ or a ‘messy situation’ too much, or is it that we just don’t care? Can we call our politicians insensitive and careless, when we as a society act just like them?