The number of unnatural deaths in India is anyway high owing to the overall poor living conditions. The nation’s central and state governments have the mandate to bring improvements by developing resilient infrastructure, provide amenities and support services to the people and, generally, work on overall progress. Even as the effort on this front continues, it seems there is a disturbing increase nationwide in deaths caused by violence inflicted often for the most minor reasons. There is an increasing lack of restraint and disregard for the law and consequent punishment.
It could be that this level of violence already existed and is now becoming known because of the extensive level of reporting and capture of incidents on mobile phones. This, however, is unlikely as people did not behave in earlier days as they do now. There is a pent up rage caused by certain present day factors that is just waiting to explode, which did not exist at this level before. There was also social programming such as a moral bar on attacking women, children and elders. For some reason, a large section of society today does not conform to these values. Traditionally, in some parts of the country where feuds continued over generations regarding boundaries of land holdings, the killings were targeted against individuals and not so frequent.
As the incident that took place in Bairagiwala in Dehradun’s Vikasnagar shows, there is a level of anger that leads to disproportionate responses. A difference regarding use of a water source should be resolved through the intervention of community elders, the Pradhan, or other public representatives. The matter can even be taken to court. Fear of the law should inhibit violent responses, particularly through forced entry into a home and attacks on an entire family. Unfortunately, these restraints are lacking in the present day. The frequent number of road rage incidents that trigger fights and even lead to deaths or serious injuries are also examples of this.
One obvious reason for this is, of course, the failure of the police to establish its ‘hanak’ on society, as also the failure to respond quickly enough to prevent violence. The failure of the judiciary to provide quick verdicts even in simple straightforward cases has greatly reduced the faith of the people in the system – so they seek to resolve matters in a more direct manner. Sadly, the ‘bulldozer’ response is not very much more civilised.
At the same time, psychologists and social activists must discover the causes for the inherently high levels of stored anger among people and prescribe workable solutions. Otherwise, everyday existence will become even more dangerous.
