Bengaluru, Nov 20 A young doctor who allegedly used social media as a weapon to denigrate and humiliate his live-in partner and fiancee could not have known that his actions would cost him his life. The case triggered a debate about social media becoming a tool in the hands of individuals to commit crimes.
The law soon caught up with the live-in partner and fiancée, who allegedly attempted to exonerate herself by hiding behind her lover's act of exposing her private videos.
This is the tragic story of Dr Vikas and Pratibha, an architect, reported in the limits of Begur police station, which shocked Bengaluru. The police investigations revealed that Vikas did it as he found out that Pratibha was allegedly having an affair, even as her marriage to him was fixed.
In a fit of rage, Pratibha and five of her friends cornered Vikas and beat him up fatally. Vikas later succumbed to injuries at the hospital.
When asked about the trend of social media becoming a weapon to settle scores often leading to crimes, Belagavi Police Commissioner M.B. Boralinagaiah told that the trend is picking up and it is going to be a challenge.
"I think KYC, which is there on many fronts, should be adopted in social media as well. Any Tom, Dick and Harry with some pseudo names will indulge in crimes. The case needs to be looked into in-depth, but at what cost is the question?" Boralingaiah said.
There is a need for strict punishment for this. Some data has to be there to immediately track the user such as Aadhaar authentication. People are becoming perverts. It is all about clicking a button now, he said.
Psychologist Dr A. Sridhara opined that the way relationships are defined by social media in young adults requires more attention and analysis.
It's more of a psychopathic tendency and there is more scope for the media to exaggerate such tendencies. You watch violent movies. You will watch and try to experiment with it. There is no feeling, there will be no fear, he said.
Individuals, adults are going through difficult times psychologically. They have not been able to understand what is happening. They get attached to even more violent people knowingly. It very clearly indicates there is no option available to them. They are trusting technology, he explains.
"Apart from all the present day scenarios, the nature of crime and the attention of the media that they are getting, it's hyped. When we go back to ‘Mahabharat', Draupadi, when she was being stripped in full public view, she took an oath that she will drink the blood of Dushasana who pulled her saree."
Sridhara explains that after this there are many instances of punishing people, murdering people, piercing the eyes to make someone blind, cutting of limbs. By nature violence is a part of human emotions.
Over a period of time we have managed to minimize it by peaceful co-existence, reasoning and culture and concern for other human beings. The element of destruction, giving punishment can go to any extent. In America, the nature of serial killers and what they do is unbelievable, he said.
"We all know about the tandoor case in New Delhi, where the young woman was killed, chopped and burnt in a tandoor. In Bengaluru, a professor attached to a reputed university and his son committed a similar crime 15 years ago," he says.
He explains, "if you look at all superhit Hindi movies, revenge films have the most following. In the present day, technology created social media, if aggression is demonstrated, every individual feels in his own way."
The reports the media is getting are all the police version. You don't know if that man is telling the truth and there is a chance of fictionalization by the police. There is little chance of verifying this. Social media is being utilized to sensationalize horrible human emotions.
"Social media is regulating human passion as well as extremes of human passion like violence."
Senior advocate Rajalakshmi Ankalagi said social media has a positive as well as a flip side. It gives everything uncontrolled and unedited. What you choose depends on the person. Social media also facilitates many campaigns which will get a response from one corner of the country to another corner.
This is possible with social media. But, if a person is negative from inside, this will make him stronger. Media, social media and movies showed the trend of the mindset of people. I don't agree with people learning through them, she said.
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