The less important

One of two men accused of the rape and murder of at least 19 different women and children in India confessed on videotape to the crimes, according to BBC news. \nIn December of last year, police discovered human remains outside the house of a businessman in the Indian city of Noida. The man who confessed to the crime is the servant of the businessman, who has also been charged with the crimes. \nWhat makes this case different than all of the other grisly serial murder cases out there? \nIt has become a representation of the social injustice faced by India’s poor. \nAll of the victims are said to have come from a shanty town called Nithari that borders Noida. Residents say that as many as 40 people have gone missing in the area over the last two years, but that police never paid any attention to them.\nAfter the discovery of the remains of the 19 women and children, six policemen were fired, with three senior officers suspended for negligence.\nContrast that with when the son of a wealthy software company CEO went missing in Noida a few months ago: There was extensive media coverage and the police worked overtime to solve the case with the end result being the boy’s safe return home. \nIf the residents are right about the 40 children and women that means almost two went missing every month for the last two years. The police didn’t do a thing about it. \nAnybody with an ounce of logic can see that it is a clear cut case of discrimination based on socio-economic status. The police in Noida simply did not care about the lives of shanty-town children and women. \nThis phenomenon is not unique to India in any way. Look at America.\nAccording to MSNBC, of the 46,700 active adult missing person cases tracked by the FBI, 53 percent are men and 29 percent are black. Gee, you sure don’t get that impression from watching the news. \nCan you name a single missing person or murder story that involved a black woman? Or how about a prostitute? Or a Hispanic man? These are the people you probably can name off the top of your head: Laci Peterson, JonBenet Ramsey, Natalee Holloway, Elizabeth Smart, Chandra Levy.\nIn America, the only missing people we care about are the shining white pretty princesses. Media coverage for them and grainy photos on the back of mass-mailed coupons for everybody else. \nPolice have often been accused of treating violent attacks and murders involving prostitutes with indifference as well. Even killers are aware of this. Gary Ridgway – the man who killed almost 50 women in the Seattle area – said he targeted prostitutes “because I thought I could kill as many as I wanted without getting caught.”\nEvery victim of every crime suffers. Each victim’s family is equally distraught. Why then, do law enforcement agencies, media and the general public all over the world continue to rank the importance of people’s lives based on some shallow, sick, value system?