‘Petty’ new murder motive

Himanshu Batra, who was killed on Sunday night because he accidentally dropped a man’s plate of chicken tikka while opening a car door, is not the only one murdered over a trivial issue. Vijaita Singh reports.

Himanshu Batra, who was killed on Sunday night because he accidentally dropped a man’s plate of chicken tikka while opening a car door, is not the only one murdered over a trivial issue. According to the data with Delhi Police, at least 20% of murder cases registered in the capital occur over petty issues. If the numbers are to go by, 100 people lost their lives this year for trivial reason.

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Three persons were killed in separate incidents this year in fights over a game of cricket. The incidents were reported from areas such as Mongolpuri, Patel Nagar and Ambedkar Nagar.

On November 27, a 32-year-old man was killed in Sultanpuri area of outer Delhi when he refused a cigarette to one of his friends. On August 12, a 41-year-old man was killed when he misplaced the keys of his roommate in Bindapur area of west Delhi.

In June, a 30-year-old man was beaten to death in Karawal Nagar area of northeast Delhi, when he accidentally stepped on a water pipe. A 19-year-old man was killed in Geeta Colony area of east Delhi when he kept a bucket of water in front of his neighbour’s house.

In another incident, a 25-year-old man, working at a liquor vend in Punjabi Bagh, was shot dead when he told a buyer that a particular brand was unavailable. According to the police, there has been a continuous rise in such incidents over the past two years.

“These incidents cannot be curbed by policing alone. Such crimes come under the unpreventable category and are caused due to sudden provocation,” said Rajan Bhagat, spokesman, Delhi Police.

“As a society we cannot hold back ourselves and don’t have faith in the existing system. We tend to sort problems among ourselves, instead of taking the course of the law,” said Rajat Mitra, clinical psychologist at Swanchetan, an NGO dealing with criminal cases.

Last year, 79 of 523 murder cases were a fallout of sudden provocation and trivial issues. “As compared to western countries, we Indians tend to escalate in public easily. The idea is to sort the matter then and there instead of waiting for a longer legal process,” said Mitra.