#OO1O “Man Beats 6-year-old Daughter to her Death After Her Dupatta Slipped From Her Head”
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This article is contributed by Thaheera, A 2nd year Literature student from Nanyang Technological University.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any members of im.prof
The New Indian Express recently reported an incident that occurred in Uttar Pradesh, that of a father allegedly killing his six year old daughter because her head covering slipped and exposed her hair. The headline read as thus; “Man Beats 6-year-old Daughter to her Death After Her Dupatta Slipped From Her Head”.
Let’s think about the headline for a second. There is an emphasis on the age of the child, the relationship between the perpetrator and the victim, and the reason for the crime. All these details have been compressed into an unusually long headline with the sole purpose of creating anger. The deliberate juxtaposition of the severity of the crime and the reason given by the perpetrator created in the headline on its own is enough to send nostrils flaring. There is little doubt that anyone would even bother trying to read the article because it is so short as compared to the detailed and long headline, allowing more room for misinterpretation.
Let us spend just some time reading the article. The article begins with this opening line, “in yet another ghastly act from Uttar Pradesh”, implying that such attacks are commonplace in the region, also betraying a sense of frustration and anger brought about by the use of the word, “yet”. Immediately following this is the labelling of the attacker as a “Muslim man”, automatically assigning a label to the community. The opening sentence, accompanied by the headline suggests that the reason the man killed his daughter was because he was a “very conservative” Muslim. There is no mention at all of any reason why the man being a Muslim led to the justification of the murder of the young girl. However, this will all be nothing but extrapolation based on the extremely limited size and scope of the article. The article that is long on these sensationalist, lurid details is short on virtually everything else including possible alternative motives, the mental health of the father and other factors.
It is mentioned in the article that “the villagers were terrified to stop the man”, implying that at least a facet of his personality was something that threatened the safety of others. Do remember that respect and fear are not the same; a village can respect a religious man, but to fear him means something different. Mere following of religious teachings would cause the people around the individual to respect the man, not fear him. Thus, we can safely deduce that the man might have violent and disruptive tendencies that would have caused people to stay away from him because they feared for their own safety. Such a violent man is perfectly capable of beating up anyone; all he needs is a reason, however flimsy it might be. While this may or may not be the case, we simply do not have enough evidence either way.
#OO1O Ten minutes spent digesting news and identifying possible biases and agenda and thinking through the news is what constitutes exercising our áql. After all, isn’t it said in the Quran, “And if you obey most of those in the earth, they will lead you astray from Allah's way; they follow but conjecture and they do but guess (6:116)”?
About The Author: Thaheera is currently pursuing her major in English Literature at Nanyang Technological University, due to her deep love for language and literature. She is also working on her first novel and aspires to be an accomplished writer. Her hobbies include reading, writing, watching good films and TV shows, along with spreading the love for literature and the arts to those around her. She is an animal lover, whose ideal world is one where animals are treated well and loved by humans.