Bystander Effect

After being unable to tolerate harassment inside a Rohtak bus, two brave sisters thrashed three eve-teasers in Haryana on Sunday. The irony is that when all of this was taking place not a single passenger helped them as they continue to fight against the culprits."Other passengers in the bus remained mute spectators," the police officials were quoted as saying. Earlier  a teenager in  Gawahati was molested by a  mob on  a busy  road before  she  was  rescued  by cops she too said  nobody came  to  her  rescue 

We  can  go  on and  on regarding  such  incidences  which keep  on occurring time and again and  surprisingly in   most  of  the  cases public plays  the  role  of  mute spectator.  During  all  these  happenings   one word  which  kept  on tossing during  discussion everywhere is    BYSTANDER EFFECT   or  Genova  syndrome 

 Lot  of  questions came to  my  mind  like  why  people react or not  react proactively during  these  kind  of situation ? is  this syndrome  confined  to  India?or  is  it a recent  development ?or is  it universal?..Surprisingly this  bystander effect is universal and as  old  as  civilization  and not  confined to particular Race or  country  !!This has happened earlier, happening  now and continue to  happen  in future  as  well.Think  about a  situation in  Mahabharata where when Draupathi  was about to be molested  by Dushashana   everyone   including  Bhisma  pithamaha  was a  mute  spectator or  a  bystander till  Lord Krishana rescued .Well, we  may  give hundreds  of  Explanation to  justify the  act but  this  is  fact .. Ok  let  us  leave  this  for  pundits  to  discuss  and let  me  share with  you regarding Bystander effect and what can  be  done when  we are  into  this kind of  situation 

..Before this let  us  know  what  is this Bystander effect .

The bystander effect or Genovese syndrome is a  social psychological  phenomenon that refers to cases where individuals do not offer any means of help in an emergency situation to the victim when other people are present. The  word Genovese  came into  existence  when  Catherine Susan "Kitty" Genovese  a New York City woman was stabbed to death near her home in the kew  neighbourhood of the borough of  Queens  in New York City, on March 13, 1964 and lack of reaction from  her  Neighbors  as they  were  mere  spectators.

 “People are scared,”, says a senior official at New Delhi-based All India Democratic Women’s Association. “Scared of the threat to their lives, scared of indulging in a court room drama, even scared the accused could possibility manipulate the police.”
So if you are witnessing something wrong on the street, its the thought "I should go in and stop them" that goes in your mind, but  parallel thought  that  runs  in  our  mind  is "What will happen to me and my family, if I intervene?". This is the thing which makes people more of a bystander than anything else. 

 Persoanlly  feeling  we  should   not have  this  ambiguity in  our   mind ,  and we  need  to  stand  up  and raise  our  voice and  support  the  victim   and  think  …. do we  remain as a  bystander if the  victim who  needs your  help is your best friend ,close  relative ,brother ,sister  daughter  or for  that  matter if the  Victim is YOU

 don’t  you wish  some   one  from the  crowd rushes to  help  you ? 

I expect to pass through life but once.  If therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to fellow being in distress, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again. 

 ~author  unknown