Public apathy to the people who are in need of help is something that must make us think that “what kind of society we are building or in what direction society is going”. The Tanzanian student being stripped and assaulted, the Nirbhaya’s story and the story below have something in common and that is public apathy. We have to understand that compassion and public apathy both are contagious. If we are not helping a person in need, there will be a day when no one will be there to help us. Daksh Bhardwaj narrates how he was beaten because of a simple misunderstanding and no one came to help him.

I was trying to find parking below my building in bombay at 1:30 am last night. Frustrated, I looked at my friend and said: “*cuss word* doesn’t look like we’re finding one today”. A man in his late 30s, outside the car, overheard our conversation and thought I abused him. He was ready to fight even though I kept telling him that I wasn’t abusing him and was only pissed at our situation. Things cooled off and we finally saw a parking spot towards a desolate dead end. Little did we know what was coming our way. I looked into the rear view mirror and saw that a black santro had blocked the road so we couldn’t leave. There were 15 men (aged 25- 35) ready to pounce. And so they did. They pulled us out of the car. My friend wasn’t the one who used *cuss word* so they casually slapped him a few times only to ensure he doesn’t reach out to help me. Then it was my turn. They kicked, they slapped and punched pretty much any part of my body that was accessible to them. They kept hitting till they didn’t see blood. Any attempt to resist was failing as I was outnumbered. I went to the man that transpired all of this and said “Sir, I didn’t abuse you. But if you think I did then I apologise for it.” But he wasn’t ready to listen. My apology was followed by 10 more punches. Then for some reason, they started picking on the fact that I was from Delhi. “Tu dilli ka hai na” and then 5 more punches. This tamasha went on for good 10-12 mins. There was an audience too. My local grocery seller, whom I’ve known for almost a year now was watching me being brutally hit by these goons. At one point I even went to him with a bleeding face, folded my hands and begged for help. But he looked away. I went to the doctor today and just found out that my ear drums are swollen and my jaw has a hairline fracture.

It’s saddening that we live in a country where its okay for such incidents to happen. Where people watch an assault and choose to be an audience. This is not the society I want to be part of. Why can’t a dialogue be a solution? Why do we have to resort to violence to put a point across? And 15 people against 1 is not a fight, its outright physical abuse.