There are very few relations in the World which are selfless, pure and beautiful. One of them includes relation between a father and a daughter. This has often been judged as the most beautiful and the most pious human relationship but how would you feel when you come across a father who held his daughter prisoner and raped her for decades, a man who confessed to have held his daughter hostage for 24 years and sired seven children with her. Is not it astonishing and depressing at the same time? Yes it is.
The story started in 1984 when Josef Fritzl, an Austrian man, imprisoned his 18-year-old daughter Franz Polzer in a cellar and repeatedly had sex with her. He has seven children from her. The windowless dungeon in which they lived was very small. The children “never saw sunlight” until they were freed over the weekend. The bad health of one of those children and his visit to hospital made a chance to get this story revealed in front of the World. The DNA tests confirm that Frinzl is guilty of the incest case. Fritzl also confessed that he had tossed the body of one of those seven children into the building’s furnace after the baby died at birth.
This story has prompted many to ask how it could have gone on for so long but I always think how it could not have happened. We live in a World where every one has access to every thing either it’s a Television, radio or Internet. The vulgarity which we see on media in the name of freedom, unlimited liberty and distance from religion are actually responsible for this. This Austrian incest case is just a reflection, not an exception. The difference is; it came in the lime light where as others are still in the dark.
If we look around the World, we would come to know that incest cases are becoming very common. According to American Humane Association, 7,000 incest incidents were reported in US alone, till 1976. Same is the case with Europe and Canada.
If we talk about Pakistan then we are a bit fortunate because we people still have moral values and give priority to our religion. In our country, incest cases are quite rare as compared to the West and even if they are, they are seldom reported. A large number of cases are kept under the carpet. The victims are ‘advised’ to be silent. It involves extreme shame and dishonour for the family so the victim is pressurized from all quarters to hush up.
According to a non-governmental organization ‘SAHIL’ in the first four months of 2003, 39 cases of incest were reported and only eleven were dealt with in the courts, seven out of eleven accused were acquitted by the courts due to a lack of evidence. In 36.6 % of cases; the father was accused, in 10.8% of cases; stepfathers, in 6.8% cases; grandfathers, in 15.10% cases; paternal or maternal uncles and in 11.9% cases; other relatives.
No doubt, this is really heart trenching and compels us to think over it. We cannot wipe out any evil or crime by force. We actually have to eradicate the causes which become responsible for the horrifying crime.
This Austrian incest case is one of the worst incest cases ever happened. The Osterreich newspaper called it “the worst crime of all time” and the police described the revelations as “one of Austria’s all-time worst crimes”. But giving this case, several bad names would not stop such cases.
Europe and America made fornication legal. According to them, every person has a personal life and no one should bother what he does, not even his Parents. Everyone is free to do anything. They call it an Individual’s freedom. So what do we expect then? We should get ready for more horrifying cases like this. Lawful incest may be on its way.
Let’s ponder over such issues and think, are we not going back to the DARK AGES where people were illiterate and ignorant? The present age gives us the label of Civilized and Enlightened People. So do you think we are civilized? At least I don’t think so.
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