Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Hypocritically Utopian

Came across an article yesterday about a young Flight Lieutenant of the Indian Air Force being chucked out (summarily dismissed) from Service and I realise that I often have a nagging question about our civilisation: are we utopian when judging others character and not for ourselves? And are we really in a time warp when it comes to morality?

The young officer in question, a promising SU 30 pilot, supposedly had an affair with a senior's wife and hence this has been construed as sacrilege and the reason for his dismissal from Service. It's a different tragedy that the lady had committed suicide.

The comic part is however the technicality of the guilt (in case there was actually any) 'stealing the affection of a brother officer's wife'. Was the brother officer's wife a juvenile or mentally stunted that she did not know what was happening as her affections were being stolen? And why is it always the fault of the man who was only one of the parties in the affair? And since Service rules apply equally (supposedly) to women, it should apply to the other party as well in case the lady is a service officer. Such cases are observed across Services and this is not to say that the Services are a bunch of over zealous, carnal pleasure searching group. Services are only a reflection of our society, only a tad bit better due to some existing scruples and values. Extra marital affairs in our society are today commonplace across office spaces and social circles. While we take it in our stride in the civilian society, when it come to the Armed Forces, we tend to take a high moral ground.

It is time the Services come out of the time warp they exist in. World over Armed Forces are adapting their rules and policies to the current times while we continue to follow archaic British founded policies. Add to that our Honourable Defence Minister who has given the directive that any such dalliance in the Armed Forces are to be dealt with the severest of actions. He probably needs to have a reality check. It is a personal space of an individual and we as a country need to respect that. It is between two partners and the solidity of their partnership which stands in the way of such dalliances.

On a practical note, I as a tax payer is worried that another bright young fighter pilot with all the money spent on his training has been lost due to our stupidly utopian thought process.

Let us learn to respect the personal space of an individual and honour his or her choices in their personal life.

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