Scindia Viral Video: Why Men In Power Need To Learn About Uncomfortable Touch

A video has surfaced of Member of Parliament Jyotiraditya Scindia interacting with a young woman, recently rescued from war-torn Ukraine, that has raised some questions online. During his verbal exchange with evacuees at an airport, Scindia is seen touching one of them on her arm multiple times while talking. While the girl doesn't appear to be reacting to the touch outwardly, the video serves as a point of discussion over what constitutes the decorum of physical contact.

Was Scindia's manner of interaction appropriate or necessary? Should a stranger, man or woman, minister or commoner, feel comfortable enough to possibly make another person uncomfortable through unsolicited touch? Must we not make education about agreeable and disagreeable touch compulsory for all people across ages?

The tense situation on-ground in Ukraine, where Russia has waged war through invasion, has left many Indian youths stranded. Away from their kin in a foreign country, they are distressed and in dire need of routes to leave the warzone. The Indian government has been actively evacuating student nationals from Ukraine, which were numbered to be about 20,000 at the time the war began last month.

While the evacuation missions, involving efforts from cabinet ministers, the Indian Air Force and other rescue carrier airlines, are laudable, fine points such as the Scindia video that form part of larger social questions cannot go ignored.

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It is common in our country for young children to be taught, to some degree, the values of good touch and bad touch, training them to identify and thwart unwanted advances. What about the adults from whom this unsolicited communication often comes? Are they well-conditioned to respect the personal boundaries of people younger than them?

While society has begun to establish that physical touch during aggression - which is conveyed by way of hitting or punching or slapping - is an offence, it looks past the kinds of physical expression that come about during softer moments of affection.

People older than us may caress us, pat us, nudge us when demonstrating pleasure about something. How is the recipient expected to react? With ready submission? Without objection? Why does an unsolicited touch, even if it comes from a well-meaning adult, always have to feel comfortable? Why are we conditioned to accept this without question?

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Touch is a crucial part of human relationships. We may be more comfortable with touch that comes from people we generally feel safe around - grandparents, parents, friends, teachers. But is this an expectation in interactions that are in a largely professional, formal capacity?

This unspoken protocol is breached by people in public offices across the board, from Shashi Tharoor to Narendra Modi, who have often been clicked interacting with the youth through touch.

The intention behind a touch may not always be a factor in the considerations of the person being touched. Whether or not you feel comfortable when someone touches you, especially someone older than you, is not bound by hard and fast rules. It's a gut feeling, an instinct that puts your senses on alert.

JM Scindia Viral Video: Why does an unsolicited touch, even if it comes from a well-meaning adult, always have to feel comfortable?

Women are more than familiar with this concept. Men graze their hands against us intentionally on buses, in markets, on roads - the ">harassment is never-ending.

So can we invalidate a negative reaction to a kind of physical touch? Must we be more mindful of the decorum of our communications, notwithstanding whether the recipient is a friend or a stranger? Should this social training be mandated for all, regardless of age or gender or profession?

Views expressed are the author's own.