Thread by @tanejamainhoon

#Thread on Aryan Khan:

For the last few days, I've not been thinking of Aryan Khan, the son of superstar Shah Rukh Khan, but of Aryan, a 23-year-old young Indian, who was caught by an investigative agency for an alleged misdemenor. And I've been thinking about his mental health.

This is a young Indian, who has allegedly broken a law, with an offence that ultimately harms no one else but his own self.

Yes, there is no legal justification for what he did, but the criminal ramification of it must be a punishment commiserate with the scale of the offence.

But this young man is now the topic of discussion on every media channel, all debates, on trending topics, at homes, on Whatsapp groups and in some very mean memes. Everyone has an opinion on him. MANY want him to be held accountable for the allegeged misdemenor (still unproven).

There are hundreds of things more urgent and more significant than his misdemenor: from the steep price of LPG, to the deaths of farmers in UP, to the murder of civilians in J&K, to the violence against women in many parts of the country. But the discourse around them is limited.

I'm thinking of his mental health because at 23, to be made a spectacle out of, to have a misdemeanor amplified more than horrific national crimes, to be publicly shamed, to be held more accountable than those with public offices, what would that do for his spirit - and his mind?

I'm thinking about his mental health not only because we usually tend to think of such incidents from a legal lens, and never from a mental health repercussion lens, but also because this is a widely reported, public shaming of a 23 year old who has, allegedly, made a *mistake*.

This is not about sympathy/morality; if his offence is proven, he will bare the brunt of it.

This is about what we are normalising as a society: that in the formative years of your life, if you DO make a mistake, the price for it will be a humiliation you must live with forever.

We're already a conservative society, where parents supervise & sanction every move of their children, where mistakes have always been held against the young.
We're now telling those parents that not only are they doing right but perhaps they could be stricter, harsher, crueller.

Add to this the fact that he belongs to a minority community (which may be the point), and to an industry that's reviled & condemned when necessary, and exploited for publicity when needed, what hateful, triggering narratives are we weaving for young people seeing this unfold?

And for the last few days, I've also been thinking of Shah Rukh Khan, not the superstar but the father of a 23-year-old in India.
What of this father's mental health, when his son is being character assassinated, harassed & crucified for no reason other than that he is *his* son?

*Commensurate 🙈

*bear not bare!

Sorry for the typos 🙈:
*Commensurate not commiserate
*Bear not bare

PS. This post, in no way, condones the use of drugs. They are harmful to individuals, and are a menace to society as well. Drugs are terrible. Please don't take drugs!

(Pointing this out in case it felt like I'm minimising it's usage)