New Delhi/ Kolkata: Ahead of the Navratri, that unfolds the festive spirit, a sense of sombre is gripping the national capital and some other parts of the country with strikes of terror in different forms- be it the attack on Uri or the killing of a teacher in stabbing frenzy on a busy Delhi road in broad daylight. While the last Sunday's attack at an army camp in Uri, which inflicted high casualties among the soldiers, has come as a big challenge to the Narendra Modi government, India got a rude reminder of the inability-to take 'no' to sexual overture-after two days when a stalker killed a 22-year-old school teacher stabbing her more than 20 times in north Delhi, the latest in a string of stalking related crimes in the city.
Again on Thursday last, Mumbai, the commercial capital of the country, was put on high alert and search operations were launched over land and sea after school going children spotted some suspicious-looking men close to a naval base in Navi Mumbai. The incidents came at a time when for over two months now, the security forces have been trying to contain the stone-throwing youth in the Kashmir valley and efforts were on to stop stalking with a special focus on Delhi besides increased surveillance along the Mumbai coast.
Asked to comment on the impact of such 'negative news,' sociologist Rita Pandey said '' As terrorism is a global phenomenon, it should be judged from that perspective. But, otherwise, crime incidents definitely have a negative impact in the society, especially before any festival.'' '' Pundits will deliberate on whether the response to the Uri attack must not lose sight of relief for the Kashmiri people or stalking is not a petty crime.
But such debates and discussions always affect the common people, with great intensity on the eve of festivity,'' Ms Pandey maintained. Eighteen Indian soldiers were martyred and as many injured by four terrorists in the September 18 attack on an army camp in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir. Last Tuesday's stabbing incident came a day after a 28-year-old woman was stabbed to death in southwest Delhi by a man who claimed to be in love with him. Another woman survived after a shot fired by a man she had refused to marry hit her locket in Gurgaon on Monday last. (UNI)