In Kashmir, ‘Medusa Effect’ of Images of Violence is Kaafi Real

For many, the sight of a 3-year-old sitting on his dead grandfather’s body is worse than having to look at Medusa.

The sight of a three-year old sitting on his dead grandfather’s body is not worse than having to look at Medusa.

(Photo: Aroop Mishra/The Quint)

Consumed by apocalyptic updates on the forward march of the novel coronavirus in the country, India was hit by yet another bitter piece of information on the first day of July – this time in the form of a picture, that told more than a thousand words.

In the frame was a three-year-old boy, who sat on the belly of his deceased grandfather, in Jammu and Kashmir’s Sopore.

While the CRPF says that 65-year-old Bashir Ahmad Khan was killed in crossfire, his family alleges he was pulled out of the car and shot dead by security forces.

Speaking to The Indian Express, a family member of Khan said, “They say he was killed in cross firing. Then, he should have died inside the vehicle.”

While the death of Khan remains disputed, what cannot be disputed is the fact that neither the country, nor the little boy, can unsee this searing picture.

For many, the image evokes a feeling eerily similar to that associated with Medusa, a Greek mythological monster with living venomous snakes in her hair, whose glance turned onlookers into stone.