On a short fuse, Delhi city turning violent easily

The Capital seems to have been on a short fuse with people being killed for petty issues or on the merest provocation. In some cases, passersby or people who have had nothing to do with the scuffling parties have fallen prey to the deadly trend.

A trend of mob fury -- wherein an individual is attacked by someone and more people appear out of nowhere and join the fight -- seems to be gradually making itself visible. Last year, New Delhi witnessed as many as 487 cases of crime over petty issues or on sudden provocation. While this year, there have been 437 cases registered. According to statistics, Delhi police have solved 370 cases this year, while last year, they solved 421 cases.

"We have arrested 851 people in these 421 cases and last year, the number of people arrested were 878. The reasons for these fights have been either tiffs or sudden provocation. There have also been cases of enmities and old disputes leading to violence. Love- or passion-related crimes have also seen a minute hike," said a senior police officer.

It has been observed that during such cases, when individuals are on the verge of death, people get engaged in capturing the incident on video rather than helping.

"Social behaviour sciences have understood four major reasons behind this. Firstly, it is the urban stress in relation to career, coping with daily issues, life, stress; secondly, people have lost faith in the system, which also coincides with the third point which is the impact of movies, social media. Fourthly, a crowd provides immunity. It's a crowd and you just don't think it is you who is doing it," said Nimesh Desai, Director, Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences.

Police said that in cases of mob attacks, initial investigations sometimes take time.