The gruesome killing of two women as part of a human sacrifice ritual sent shock waves through the nation. Many were left wondering how such ancient rituals were still prevalent in our modern society. Practices such as human sacrifice were something that seemed to have existed only in the past and the thought that it could still persist in some way in 2022 feels bizarre to say the least.
But the fact that almost every civilisation has had sacrificial rituals of some kind shows us that the notion of sacrifice is intrinsic to human existence. Just that it plays out in different ways in different cultures and time periods. For example, Russia is currently sacrificing many of its soldiers to win the war. Parents sacrifice themselves for their children, trees might have to be sacrificed in order for buildings to come up and so on. Hence, we see in every human endeavour there is an element of sacrifice and there is no way of getting around it. The only question might be, is it a good sacrifice or a bad one.
In the Elanthoor murders two women were sacrificed by the accused couple for greater financial success. The grotesque nature of the crime lies in the fact that two human beings of unquantifiable value were sacrificed for something of mere material value. Something of infinite worth given up for something so finite. That is not just a bad sacrifice, but the worst of its kind.
In the story of Cain and Abel we see Cain’s insincere sacrifice displeasing God because unlike Abel, he doesn’t make the right sacrifices. When confronted with this reality, Cain could have turned around and made the appropriate sacrifices necessary to succeed but instead he chose to murder his brother Abel. The story shows that when our sacrifices are not in alignment with the true nature of reality, then we are forced to rely on our own devious plans in order to succeed. Killing his brother would have felt like an easy way out for Cain to get what he wanted because he himself was not giving up anything of value but forcing sacrifice on another so that he can selfishly gain. But the problem is that the ethical laws of life are set in such a way that improper sacrifices can never yield the results one desires. Hence the person in such a situation continues to offer such grotesque sacrifices with the illusion that maybe they will eventually get what they desire.
In the Elanthoor murders the couple intended to kill only one victim. But when that didn’t work they had to kill another thinking they might then get their desired results. Instead of offering the right sacrifices like: cutting down on their life style, being wise with their finances, asking for help or taking up another job they made one that required someone else to sacrifice their very lives. The fact that they paid the prime accused, Mohammed Shafi several lakhs to kill the women shows that they were not in dire straits but rather motivated by greed. By desiring to gain greater financial success quickly without the appropriate sacrifices necessary, they pathologised their relationship with each other and their victims. Blinded by their desires they tunnelled deeper into the darkness which eventually lead them to the darkest act of them all- human sacrifice.
