Recent incidents of kidnapping for ransom and murders involving persons known to the victims have raised serious concerns over the breakdown of human bonding and relationships in urban societies.
The kidnapping of a two-year-old child allegedly by his maternal grandfather and his minor son at Nangloi in West Delhi came as a rude shock. The accused purportedly demanded Rs.1 crore from the victim’s father. During interrogation, the grandfa ther allegedly disclosed that he had kidnapped the child for money and also to teach his daughter’s in-laws “a lesson” as he had a running dispute with them.
Equally shocking was the case of kidnapping and brutal murder of Ribu Chawla, a teenaged schoolboy from Vikaspuri, by a fitness trainer who had twice won the “Mr. Delhi” title in body-building competitions. He allegedly committed the crime because he could not think of any other means to pay back the huge debts he had incurred in gambling.
In another recent Delhi incident, a young man allegedly murdered his grandmother in Amar Colony and decamped with the jewellery kept in her house to fund a trip to a hill station along with his girlfriend.
The most bizarre case was the case of an aspiring model-cum-actor who seriously injured a woman friend of his brother for refusing to lend him money he required to pay off his house rent, pending phone bills and for his portfolio to appear at auditions for reality shows.
The accused allegedly murdered the woman later suspecting that she would inform the police. Shockingly, he then took his girlfriend to a movie, bought her a gift and had lunch together, as if nothing had transpired.
Rajat Mitra of NGO Swanchetan, who has interviewed a large number of criminals lodged at Delhi’s Tihar Central Jail, says: “These are signs of massive fragmentation that our society is witnessing. There is a breakdown of bonding and relationships and that is giving rise to violence. The circumstances surrounding the woman’s murder by the aspiring model suggest an uncontrollable rage within the accused. In many such cases, the inner perceived sense of humiliation or injustice, whether real or imaginary, leads a person to commit crime. The perpetrator rarely suffers from any sense of remorse or guilt as he feels that he has done the right thing.”
Suggesting a way out, Dr. Mitra says people should refrain from provoking others. “Indian society is extremely provocative. We should learn to deal with people gently, ensuring that the other person does not feel humiliated or wronged and take the path of negotiation. Unless corrective measures are taken, our society is heading towards a stage where individuals would be unable to handle provocation and indulge in uncontrollable violence,” he adds.
Devesh K. Pandey