Death of e-rickshaw driver over public urination: Why are Delhiites always enraged?

E-rickshaw driver, Ravinder, was beaten to death on Saturday for stopping youngsters from peeing near GTB Nagar Metro Station; Delhiites say the city has major anger issues.

Beaten to death. Why? For stopping youngsters from urinating on the roadside, near GTB Nagar Metro Station in North Delhi. Was the 32-year-old e-rickshaw driver, Ravinder, at fault for supporting the call for Swachh Bharat?

E-rickshaw driver, Ravinder, was beaten to death when he tried to stop youngsters from urinating in public. (iStock)

Delhiites feel sad and say no. But assert that it’s not easy in a city like Delhi. “I once tried to stop a rickshaw wala, who looked drunk, from urinating in public, in the same GTB Metro Station area. But, it turned out to be embarrassing for me. I told him ‘What are you doing?’ and had so many people stare as if I, being a girl and pointing out a man peeing on the road, was the culprit,” recalls Kumkum, a 26-year-old student of Korean language in Delhi University’s North Campus.

Delhiites have become uncontrollable raging bulls who’ll stop at nothing. And that feeling has come in because the administration has let it come in. — Prateek Dewan, software engineer

Some call the incident of rage that took the 32-year-old man’s life, a show of aggression. “Delhiites have become uncontrollable raging bulls who’ll stop at nothing. And that feeling has come in because the administration has let it,” says Prateek Dewan, a 28-year-old software engineer.

E-rickshaw driver, Ravinder, who tried to stop the youngsters from urinating in public, and was beaten to death in return.

The concern is shared by others who feel that the culprit is attitude of pinning down those who are from a lower economic strata. “Delhiiites have this attitude ‘tu janta nahi mera baap kaun hai?’ Plus we treat poor people like animals... and when a poor (in this case the rikshawala) guides someone who is better off (in this case the young guys), it hurts their ego and they end up doing such crimes,” says Neha Das, a 28-year-old content writer.

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