Shraddha Walkar Murder: Anger, Piled-Up Grudges, What Drives Such Violent Crimes?

Shraddha was allegedly murdered in May by her live-in partner Aaftab Poonawala, who is also accused of chopping her corpse into 35 pieces and disposing off those parts in forests of Delhi over several days. Aaftab was arrested earlier this month, over six month after he allegedly killed Shraddha.?

As people struggle to come to terms with the brutality of the crime, experts highlight that no single reason can be attributed to such acts. They say there are several reasons that drive people to such violence.?

Aaftab, 28, was a trained chef. He and Shraddha, 26, met on a dating platform. They began a relationship in Mumbai and moved to Delhi when Shraddha's family opposed the relationship. In May, within days of moving into their South Delhi Mehrauli home, they entered an argument over the question of marriage. Within days of the argument, Aaftab allegedly killer Shraddha.?

Forensic psychologist Deepti Puranik told PTI that for somebody to be caught in a fit of rage so intense to kill their partner, one has to look at the increasingly lowering levels of tolerance among people.?

"We find it often these days that people get stressed out easily, they are not able to tolerate frustration. And there is certainly a lack of communication. Instead of communicating and resolving the issue, they are resorting to fighting. People usually avoid communicating, nobody wants to sit down and listen," saud Puranik.

The complaint by the Shraddha's father alleged that Aaftab used to beat her on several occasions and that she had informed her family about it earlier.

Piling issues, old grudges, and an anti-social lifestyle can lead to a sudden burst of anger in some people, said Smita Pandey, Associate Dean, School of Behavioural Science, National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU).

Pandey said, "Lately, people are not able to forgive small issues that happen in daily life. They keep piling up and the grudges are kept alive. People are also leading an anti-social lifestyle. All of it can result in a fit of rage that they cannot control their anger."

She further said that there is no recourse for anger management and there is a visible lack of communication in such cases.?

Aaftab told the police during the investigation that he killed Shraddha after a quarrel over marriage and the idea of chopping her body into pieces was inspired by American crime TV series Dexter.

"Ample studies in people who watch violent tv shows have reflected that there is an increase in aggression. If you look at OTT platforms, we have kind of normalised aggression and violence. Adolescent young people become immune to these things after watching it on TV so much," said Puranik.

Clinical pyschologist Manoj Kumar Sharma noted that violent films can give a "symbolic expression" to the anger of people with psychopathological traits and anti-social nature.?

"Such films impact different people in different ways. Some people have a higher level of aggression and impulsivity. They find a symbolic expression of their anger in such films. They may even watch such films to plan and prepare for a crime," said Sharma of the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS).

Shraddha's murder by Aaftab, despite its brutality, is not an isolated incident. It's a chilling reminder of a similar case in 2010 when a software engineer in Dehradun chopped off his wife in over 70 pieces. During the investigation of the crime, it emerged that the accused was inspired by the Hollywood film Silence of the Lambs.

More recently, a 26-year-old man from Jharkhand, absconding since 2018, was arrested by the Delhi Police for allegedly killing a 15-year-old girl whose dismembered body was found in Delhi. The accused, Shalu Topno, along with his associates, had allegedly chopped the girl's body into six pieces, put it in a bag, and thrown it near a water body.?

The Uttar Pradesh Police on Tuesday said the body of an unidentified woman, chopped into several pieces, was found in a well at a village in Azamgarh. Locals discovered the body and informed police, they said.

Apart from crediting probable "psychopathological traits" in Aaftab to have disassociated with his live-in partner of three years and murdering her in cold blood, Puranik blamed violent films and TV shows for having desensitised the youth towards violence.

(With PTI inputs)