The adage that ‘Love is the hardest drug to quit, but it is even harder when it is taken away’ may hold true for a section of spurned lovers in the State. In the last six years, of the 30 incidents reported in the State where unrequited love took a murderous turn with jilted lovers going on a killing spree, victims in 20 attacks died while the rest were grievously injured.
Notably, all these were “lone-wolf’ attacks carried out by a single individual except for three — one at Kallambalam in Thiruvananthapuram, another at Kodumon in Pathanamthitta, and the third at Kothamangalam in Ernakulam. Further, while the accused committed the murder under the influence of intoxicants in one case, the rest 29 attacks were pre-meditated.
The incident at Kallambalam in Thiruvananthapuram, where a 63-year-old father was beaten to death on his daughter’s wedding day by a four-member gang in June, was the lone case carried out under the influence of intoxicants.
Speaking to The Hindu, Zachariah George, former SP, Women’s Cell, and ex-nodal officer, Police Research Center, said, “The issue is that we don’t know how to break up respectfully. These are the open manifestations of revenge carried out by the person at the other end of the relationship”.
Also, there are scores of incidents in which the victims commit suicide after writing a suicide note claiming that no one is responsible for their death when the accused continues to harass or stalk the victim even after ending the relationship or entering a new wedlock. At times, the families at the receiving end would not go for litigation fearing the stigma associated with such incidents,” said Mr. George. “When I was the SP of the Women’s Cell, there were instances when women approached us informing that they were trying to resolve the issue at their level and needed support of system in case the issue aggravates,” added Mr. George.
“The issue is that the person who faces a break-up in a relationship feels the same feeling as a person who is experiencing intense drug withdrawal, said Dr. Sebind Kumar, associate professor, psychiatry and convener of Anti-Drug Abuse Club, Thrissur Government Medical College Hospital. Much like drug withdrawal, break-up often produces intense cravings for a person when they try to stop. People lacking emotional maturity often turn to aggression during such times, just like how a patient who is going through alcohol withdrawal becomes aggressive. Counselling and raising children with a focus on attaining emotional maturity during their teenage is the main solution to preventing such fatal incidents,” said Dr. Kumar.
