And so it is not without reason that we regretfully infer so - in the past two-odd months alone as many as a dozen people have lost lives at the hands of their relatives, some times even between father, mother, husband, wife and brother. The shocking incident at Vijaynagar, Ghaziabad where a man called Ravindra Verma slaughtered five of his children and wounding his wife, may have caught national headlines but digging a little beneath the police files in the NCR (National Capital Region) reveals that on an average one person falls to the 'love lost' syndrome that seems to be sweeping away all that ages have stood for - blood is thicker than water!

About two months ago a father threw three of his daughters in a canal - their fault: they were born as daughters and not son! Some time back a labourer Amar has similarity thrown three of his daughters in Ganges. Two died while one was saved by passers by.

Six months back one woman and two young daughters threw themselves before a speeding train at Pilakhua after they were asked to do so by the father. A few years back a woman had burnt five of her children by locking them in a room and setting it on fire in Simbhavali. One can imagine the savagery of the woman when one boy tried to flee the inferno he was dragged and pushed back into the leaping flames by the mother.

According to Dr Sanjeev Tyagi, such cases though are aberrations, their rise in recent times is a matter of both research and worry. Frustrations, economic slowdown, professional problems, domestic irritants, he points out, drags one to such extremes. “It is indeed a matter of grave concern for I have noted that such things have shot through the roof in recent times,” says psychatrist Gopal Singhal who points out, rightly enough, that on an average day, such issues are always happening though it was a different matter that only mass killings caught the fancy and attention of media.

Though different doctors term such conditions by different names like Schizophrenia, mental depression, etc, the cops say there is a social angle to the problem as well. IG (Moradabad) formerly posted as IG (Meerut) Gurbachan Lal, who was holding charge of the case due to the sensitivities involved, muses that while the killer was unrepentant about the brutal killings he had conducted, he was weeping and saying that it happened as 'he was not able to make ends meet'.

Then there are 'sudden triggers' like taunts by spouse, irritation by kids, official pressures, deadlines, target, etc, which aggravate the situation, a doctor says. Police also feels that in most cases the killings were not carried out by hardened criminals but were instead the handiwork of 'weak, incompetent, struggling and frustrated' people, who acted hastily in the spur of the movement.

Whatever be the cause or prognosis of the brutality, incidents like these seemingly are scarring the relationships like never before and as a result the hallmark of Indian society love is taking a knock for worse!

Love lost: