Public Enemies

What you can gather from an IAS officer’s sexual molestation attempt

It is not shocking that an IAS officer should have tried to molest a woman, because the exam, as we all know, does not test a person’s morality. In fact, there is a strong case for the reverse—only those with half a character and high thresholds of humiliation choose to go in for the career. The interesting thing about this episode is the insight into the mind of the IAS man.

This was Shashi Bhusan Lal Susheel’s alleged crime: one early morning, after the Delhi-Lucknow Mail left Ghaziabad, seeing a young woman on the berth above him asleep and alone, he tried to sexually abuse her. She resisted, and when her mother, who had gone to the washroom, returned, revealed her ordeal. They complained to the guard. Bhushan was handed over to the railway police in Lucknow. His defence was that it was an oral tiff after a casteist slur on him. This is a man who has been selected from a billion Indians to be part of the elite managing this country. He is assumed to be enlightened, the spine of this democracy which keeps forces of barbarism at bay. At the first sign of trouble, he goes back to good old moribund caste. It’s an instinctive recourse. What then must have been the prism he saw this country through as he made decisions that affected lives? He’s not the exception. Most of the upper bureaucracy will be exactly like him in approach, if not deed. Marriage brokers in this country have a rate card for IAS officers. It is like broking prime south Mumbai property.

According to a Hindustan Times report, when his peers heard about the arrest, they formed a rescue party and 20 IAS officers landed at the railway station to get him out, and, using skills honed over a lifetime in government, negotiate a deal with the victim. In the end, despite the alleged intellect and education, this is all that matters when it comes to an issue of justice—caste and community. In the middle of all this is a girl and her mother who just wanted to go from one station to another.

They don’t stand a chance. He will get bail and then there will be a whole avalanche upon them till they submit.

About The Author

Madhavankutty Pillai

Madhavankutty Pillai has no specialisations whatsoever. He is among the last of the generalists. And also Open chief of bureau, Mumbai  

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