Day by day, we as a society are bowing down our heads in shame. Years back, the general consensus of Kerala made a mockery of North India. We thought news of utmost violence and killings were reserved only for the people of the north. Straight to the new age of 2023, Kerala has replete enough cases to even shame the once-taunted north India. Varkala witnessed a horrendous crime yesterday. A father who was in high spirits to attend his daughter's wedding was bashed to death by three teenagers.

These teenagers were neighbours. This young man-neighbour once came with a proposal to marry the girl but was curtly rejected by the father which provoked such a crime. It elicits shock since such kind of situations are pretty normal in Kerala and has been celebrated with a tinge of humour in countless movies. These scenes were often enacted by the likes of comedy greats in Malayalam cinema. However, now in this new age, it brings appalling thoughts since a father even has lost the authority to decide his daughter's marriage proposal. Such a situation is dealt with murder rather than cordial talks or humour. Have we lost it all?

Such situations are a shame that can easily create discord and bring a wedge into the neighbourhood that has hitherto seen a life of bonhomie. According to Locals, those who indulged in the murder were history sheeters with big criminal backgrounds. Politicians and police are also guilty of lionizing such names in society and using them as lackeys for small-time success.

It is a dream for every father to see their daughter walking in a wedding robe and entering a new phase of her life. The four assailants in Varkala dashed all that and put a family into the abyss of bereavement. The people of Kerala should shoulder the family at this point and must offer them whatever solace to suppress their sadness. And for the law and authorities, punishment should not rather go years of stagnancy but should be immediate. We loathe the idea to celebrate weddings in a police cavalcade. We don't want that anytime soon or ever.