Aggression is the only release in a society expected to deliver amid high pressure as witnessed by a rise in family crimes. Karan Bhardwaj reports
In a society where mother is an epitome of love and sacrifice, who would have imagined that this 30-year-old woman from Delhi would first drown her six-year-old daughter Parihar in a washing machine tub and then her 11-month-old son Rudraksha in a water bucket. She later hung herself from the ceiling fan on the first floor of their two-storey house. In yet another bizarre incident in Bengaluru, a 35-year-old woman was allegedly locked up in a room by her parents for about four years. She didn’t have clothes, was lying on floor at the time of rescue. In Mumbai, a MBA plotted a kidnap of his 13-year-old cousin to recover money he lost in an IPl bet. When the police got to know of the plan, the cousin was burnt to death.
lower threshold level
The usual bulk of urban crimes across India is stagnating around 18 per cent since 2007-08 as per National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, crimes of passion and provocation have upped from seven to 35 per cent during recent years. Most of them are unplanned and happen in moments of rage. Surprisingly, 93 per cent accused are first-timers belonging to all strata of society-MBAs to auto drivers. “We are living in a button-age. Everything is available at the press of a button. Mobile texts, chats, proximity, over-socialising are a norm. People think they can have everything in command. We can’t even bear a minute’s delay, we start abusing and howling. Things unfortunately take a bad turn when we face extreme circumstances away from home. We don’t think twice before taking law in hands. Sometime back, a 27-year-old garment worker in Bengaluru hit his pregnant wife in a fit of anger when she demanded new clothes on New Year,” said Rekha Pandey, senior advocate of Supreme Court. Dr Harish Shetty pointed out that “there’s a lot of anger and little fear of consequence” in his patients. “Verbalisation of feelings is a casualty of our times and pent up negative feelings are a bigger explosive than an RDX bomb,” said the psychiatrist.
Needs & demands
What used to be luxury till a few years ago, is now a necessity. With changing times there’s a sea change in the nature of needs and are governed by social expectations. Status, its maintenace and false pretentions are dictating minds. City life is expensive and middle-class is paying a price. They are running from pillar to post to fullfil their aspirations. More often, youngsters fall prey to bad habits and commit crime. Recently, a 15-year-old boy kidnapped and murdered his eight-year-old cousin to recover Rs 40,000 he withdrew from his father's ATM, that was spent on his friends. “To get money, they indulge in betting or selling drugs. They feel rejected which ultimately gets them in wrong company. They are unable to distinguish between right and wrong,” said sociologist Aruna Broota.
lack of support system
Sadly, Broota pointed out, mobile phones and laptops have become our new relatives. “We enter home late night but phones are still ringing. There is a disconnect within family members. If there is any crisis, there is no one to talk to. There are psychological disturbances which ultimately take over the mind,” she said. Families get less time to spend together and hence, there is no sense of attachment. Broota digs out a strange case where a 14-year-old boy beat up her mother blue and black after she refused him extra play hours. “In another case, a young man was serving drugs to his parents in food. He wanted to have their property. Parents alleged that their son was a gambler and can sell their assets. I wonder where is the attachment we once spoke about in our familiesIJ,” she said. As per child psychologists, faulty parenting is making children depressed. “Presently in metros there are maids taking care of children. Parents usually think taking children to a mall and leaving them in a kid’s arena once a week is enough to develop a bond. The children need examples from home and values have to be inculcated at young age so that they grow up as individual who can make a difference between good and bad,” said Arun Khanna, a child psychologist.
“lack of family structure like we did before and the messages promoting wrong values are a huge cause for people not being able to distinguish between right and wrong. We are drifting away from our roots and getting entwined in the superficial hedonistic pragmatic so called society. We seem to have forgotten our culture and in the quick fix western afflicted mental affliction people seem to be caught up and confused. On one hand we have had too much growth where we skipped industrial and went straight to technological revolution—the mushrooming of global channels, network, internet, in short multimedia has confused many since there we skipped the steps that the West took to get there—from black and white television to computers. People before being given independent power should realise responsibility and how to handle it. We could be headed to a very disastrous future if strong psychological-socio-economic and spiritual measures are not implemented,” commented Sanjana Jon.
Performance pressure
Suhasini (name changed), senior communication manager in a leading Mumbai-based company shared her story. “I work at least 12 hours a day. I manage all the communication-related issues of the company. My colleagues are quite happy the way our department has been functioning since last two years in my presence. But the management wants us to improve efficiency and give more time to the company. I haven’t seen my parents and sister for last one year. They are in Ranchi. Sometimes I feel like running away and quit the job where there is hardly any recognition,” she broke down. Her narrative sounds closer to other professionals who are toiling miles away from their families.
Jiah Khan apparently commited suicide because of failure to get work. However, this isn’t the case of the glamour world. look around and you will realise, competition in every sphere leads people and even teenagers to cheating, treachery and crime. “People are expected to perform beyond their capacities. They are absolutely enticed by materialistic desires. In that run, they compromise and end up landing in some sort of crime,” said Broota. She is not surprised on the bizarre crimes being reported every day. Dr Chandra Vibhash, 31, of a Delhi government hospital, killed his 27-year-old wife Supriya, an engineer with an MBA degree, in September last year, for not being “on the same wavelength” as him. “In routine life, we are expected to compete with each other. Outshining mates are the agendas set by ourselves. The inability to meet failure in such a scenario has taken several lives,” said the sociologist. There are unnecessary peer pressures one has to deal every day. A lot of people are migrating from rural areas and they find it difficult to adjust and compete with urban counterparts.