Jottings of the week: Myntra attacked for sale of leather shoes

Protect the elderly

Two cases of murder in less than a week in two different cities have renewed the spotlight on how truly vulnerable the elderly are. In the first incident, the victim, a 57-year-old housewife in Mumbai, used to stay alone with her husband staying away most of the time on work, and children settled abroad. The second case involved a couple in their eighties who lived in a ground floor flat in Delhi’s upscale neighbourhood of East Kailash. In both instances, burglary seems to have been the sole motive. The perpetrators must have closely followed the routine of the victims before deciding to strike. Tragically, India’s burgeoning elderly population knows they are easy targets for criminals, especially in cities, because of their physical frailty. The police, too, are aware of the rising attacks on the elderly. Yet, they fail to ensure adequate protection for senior citizens. Nearly a decade ago, the Bureau of Police Research and Development noted the significant jump in the rate of cognisable crime — 19.6% to 24.6% — against senior citizens. In West Bengal, about 3-5% of all crimes committed have senior citizens as targets. The failures of the police are amplified by the frequent reiterations of their intention to introduce measures for protecting this vulnerable segment. But rarely do we find any of them implemented. 

Why is Brazil so gun(g)ho?

The Brazilian government’s decision to relax gun laws could well have fatal consequences. Brazil is one of the most violent countries in the world, whose statistic of 60,000 annual murders is a horrifying reality. Now with the government poised to lower restrictions on personal gun ownership, citizens will be able to buy nine guns and 600 rounds of ammunition in a year. Also the age for ownership has been reduced from 25 to 21 years. Moreover, the new gun laws are likely to ease ownership restrictions for people with criminal antecedents who will now find it easier to buy weapons. The draft law is slated to sail through the lower house of Brazil’s parliament, given the government’s resolve to introduce a “right for citizens to own firearms for self-defence or the protection of property”.

When the shoe pinches

The hyperactive Hindutva brigade is up in arms once again, this time targeting Myntra, an e-commerce site, for violating the sentiments of Hindus. The online shopping site has raised the hackles of swayamsevaks for allegedly selling shoes made of cow leather. The twitter handle — @RSS_Org — that launched the vicious attack on the fashion retailer is affiliated to the RSS, which urged the government to take strong action against the site. But, trust the top brass of the organisation to do a volte face. Once a popular backlash seemed to be in the offing, the RSS was quick enough to distance itself from the tweet. It said that the twitter handle is an independent initiative run by swayamsevaks for which the RSS cannot be held responsible. This is a hilarious fire-fighting exercise from an outfit whose aggressive stance to protect the ostensibly sacred Hindu animals, has reached mind-boggling proportions. Myntra’s response to RSS Org’s tweet — which had tagged several key politicians, including the Prime Minister — made the Flipkart-owned shopping site’s stand clear: The products in question are made with imported leather, hence it is perfectly legal to sell them in India. The Prime Minister, now in UK, seems to have realised the need to distance himself and his government from these extremist elements. One hopes that his message from UK that the Indian government will not tolerate any religious group inciting hatred will finally drill some sense into the zealots.