Point of View

I happen to be in a vehicle with Red Beacon flashing on top because I was with family friend who is top ranking police officer. We were going to a place about 100Kms outside Mumbai, to attend a family function.

As we were traveling   on highway, we passed by a police station. We saw that there was a fairly big crowd outside the police station. My friend said, “Let us see what the matter is. This police station seems to be outpost on highway and there may not be any seniors to handle the situation.” He further went on to say, “this is not within my jurisdiction but my duty demands that I must intervene if the situation is volatile”.  So we backed up a little and drove in to the police station’s open space. On seeing the car with Red beacon, the station police officer rushed to our car. He opened the door for my friend and smartly saluted.

My friend asked what the problem was. The police officer said, “Nothing Sir, just a murder. A man stabbed his father-in-law over small tiff and the relatives have brought the murderer to the station. The situation is under control”. My friend said, “All right, small issue” and we drove on.

I was amazed and shocked and could not believe my eyes and ears. A murder, a small issue? I could not keep quiet and I asked my friend, “What does he mean by small issue? How a murder can be a ‘Nothing’ for police officer at station and ‘Small Issue’ for him?”

My friend smiled and said, “It is a small issue. It is a straight forward case. There will be no complications. It would have been a big issue if it was to be a murder of a person of one community by person of another community. It would have been a big issue if it was murder of lower caste person by higher caste fellow. It would have been a big issue if it was murder out of political animosity. It would have been big issue if it was murder out of gang war. It would have been big issue if it was a murder of social worker.” And we continued our journey.

Mind you, if you are nobody then even your murder is not an issue.
and
Small people get murdered and those 'Greats', get Assassinated .