Meerut man slaps strangers on the street for months, says it helps with his ‘depression’

In Meerut, a 23-year-old was arrested for slapping people while riding his scooter, seeking a dopamine rush to cope with depression.

A 23-year-old man in Meerut was arrested for allegedly slapping people on the streets as a way of relieving stress. Kapil Kumar, police said, had gone on a slapping spree, striking people on the streets of Uttar Pradesh to experience what he called "a dopamine rush".

Police said that Kapil Kumar had been smacking people across Meerut while riding his scooty for the last five to six months (Representational)

According to a Times of India report, police said that Kapil had been smacking people across Meerut while riding his scooter for the last five to six months as he was "depressed" after his father's death and mother's remarriage.

After videos of Kapil's slap attacks were circulated online, police arrested him for allegedly striking several pedestrians, including a woman and a retired PCS officer.

In CCTV footage accessed by the police, a man can be seen walking on the side of a street when someone on a two-wheeler passes by him and strikes him. Later, a woman filed a police complaint against an "unidentified man" for slapping her while she was walking.

Lost his father, mother remarried

Police also said that Kapil told them that he was depressed as he was unemployed and turmoil in his family led him to seek the bizarre way of relieving stress. He said that he felt like "nothing good" was happening in his life so he resorted to slapping strangers, hoping that "something good might happen by doing a few bad things".

"It seems Kumar has a medical condition, but it is unclear whether he receives medication. We're collecting more information about his background to ascertain all the facts," police officer Ilam Singh told TOI.