The raging anger of Delhiites has been getting key attention by the city’s police force for the past decade and to deal it, the officials are encouraging, those held for ‘pointless crimes’ to visit psychiatrists or counsellors to talk out their problems.
A 42 year old dentist in Delhi, on Wednesday night, was beaten to death in a case of rage.
When killings over petty issues took place in 2011, such as, not giving a screwdriver or not selling curd, saw a spike, the police decided to refer offenders to anger management sessions at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
“The incidents of crimes in a fit of rage are a fairly new phenomenon, and are often the result of growing dissatisfaction with your standard of living. In a lot of colonies people are fighting to maintain basic standard of living. With such deplorable living conditions, it becomes difficult to keep your sanity intact. The smallest of trigger instigates such crimes,” said Depender Pathak, joint commissioner of police (southwest district).
Pathak said that Delhi being a confluence of various cultures also offers reasons for misunderstandings.
“There have been cases where people have started fights because they were addressed as ‘tum’ instead of ‘aap’. In some cities of Uttar Pradesh, there is no concept of ‘aap’. ‘Tum’ is how they address even their elders,” he said.
A survey stated that, 60% of Delhiites have anger management issues. In many cases this remains bottled up, until a small instigation sparks violence.
Even Delhi Police officials are not spared by this rage.
In 2014, a car driver killed a police constable, after he was asked to take a detour.
In the similar lines, a traffic policeman got into a physical fight with a woman, who allegedly refused to pay the traffic fine.
“We constantly advice our officials to not engage with people who enter into an argument. If the situation gets out of hand, we have ordered them to call for their team or the PCR,” said Muktesh Chander, special commissioner of police (traffic).
He further said that, mandatory workshops have been started recently at the traffic headquarters in Todapur. As the part of these workshops, people are instructed to keep the pictures of their loved ones on the dashboard, while driving, call the police in case an argument gets violent, and avoid eye contact with the person starting a fight.
(Photo credits: Hindustan Times)
By Phani Ch
