Interactivity was alive and well in the 1940's

As a child of 10, memories of American magazines comprise of LIFE,LOOK and The Saturday Evening Post. Cannot remember how the POST reached home; maybe Mom, a member of the Petit library, brought them. The issues would invariably be at least three months old, shipped by sea presumably. But one waited with bated breath, wanting to rifle through them. Sometimes there was disappointmentbecause that one particular small boxed article would be missing. Rarely, an issue carried two boxes. That was as close to heaven as one could get.

The Post is past. The memory remains. My wife, 50 years later, studied the same cases for her law exams! We now resurrectthe column and hope it elicits the same pleasure it did then.

It’s called “YOU BE THE JUDGE”.

YOU BE THE JUDGE

A recent news article carried yet another horror story of auto-rickshaw-driver-terror. A woman and child insisted on being ferried home and got into the vehicle. To teach the duo a lesson, the driver took them on a long detour, scaring them and adding to their agony. The ordeal ended with the passengers at long last reaching their destination and the driver being mildly penalised and let go.

Now, YOU BE THE JUDGE.

The issues: Was the driver entitled to spread panic? That the passengers were safe in the end, was it a compensating factor?Was his “punishment” enough, appropriate?Were the police complicit in letting the abductor go? Should they too be punished?

The argument would be thus:This was nothing short of abduction, unlawful restraint and terrorising. The penalties, imprisonment, can be as long as seven years,(Sec. 362+ of the IPC). The cops aided and abetted through dereliction of duty and filing incomplete reports, violating the Police Act. Who is correct?

Now, YOU BE THE JUDGE.

mail@moneylife.in, divyamalcolm@gmail.com, bapoomalcolm@gmail.com

Courtesy: Moneylife