Vandalism in India

A few days ago, there was an accident that occurred on the highway near Patna, in which a truck ran over two people. As sad is this is, what is more saddening is that rather than helping the victims of the accident, people started gathering near the accident site. Soon, people from among the crowd, maybe anti-social elements, became a violent mob and started blocking the road, smashing and burning all vehicles that came their way. All this may seem like an extremely rare occurrence, but unfortunately it is a fact that we, citizens, don’t think that public or private property has any value attached to it, and that they can destroy or damage anything they want, whenever they want.

The situation that was created in Patna, though extremely serious, is one of the smaller cases of vandalism of public property. Just last year, Haryana was witness to huge rioting after the conviction of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim, a self-styled godman. The rioting resulted in not only huge monetary losses in many cities of the state, it also resulted in the death of 36 people in police firing in Panchkula. The total monetary loss assessed was to the tune of Rs. 126 crores, with Ambala suffering the maximum loss of Rs. 46.84 crores. The Punjab and Haryana High Court took a strong view of the matter after a Panchkula lawyer filed a public interest litigation seeking the court’s intervention. The court also said that it would recover the losses from those “instigating and inciting the crowd”, but there was no law to underpin the order.

These cases of vandalism do not happen only on streets, but even trains and hotels are not left out of their reach. This was seen by the whole world last year with the launch of the Tejas Express. It was touted to be the first high-speed and world-class train to be launched in the country. But even before it was put into service, it had its window panes shattered by people throwing stones at it. This was just the beginning. During its maiden journey from Mumbai to Goa, several of its entertainment LED screens were scratched, seat upholstery was torn, and headphones that were provided to passenger were stolen. Similar is the story of various trains that run in India. For example, this year the Western Railway reported a net loss of Rs. 62 lakh due inventory thefts between April and September. The items that were stolen include blankets, towels, bedsheets, mugs, Jaquar fittings in toilets, and trash cans. According to the Central Railways chief public relations officer, Sunil Udasi, 79,350 hand towels, 27,545 bed sheets, 21,050 pillow covers, 2,150 pillows, and 2,065 blankets were stolen between April and September this year itself. 

All this begs for an answer to just one question: why do people resort to such a behavior? What could one possibly gain by scratching LED screens, or burning vehicles. Some of the passengers had complaints about the poor-quality food on Tejas Express, but is breaking and stealing things the right way for one to vent out his frustration?

This mindset of the people manifests itself in other ways too such as, leaving public toilets unflushed, breaking queues, drunk driving, etc. It is not only the lack of basic etiquette but also the lack of enforcement of laws. In our country, there is law in place to prevent vandalism, the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984. But this is present only on paper, as not only it is very difficult to enforce it in cases involving large, unidentified mobs but also requires a long and arduous process.

But the public is not the only party to be blamed, the government is also equally responsible. Just pay a visit to any government office and you will see various modern art pieces created using Paan stains on walls, and dust and mice everywhere.

The only way we can hammer in basic decencies among our populace is by giving them proper education, better awareness about their civil duties, and inculcating a sense of pride for public resources in them. And if all else fails, the law must be made harsher and its enforcement better.

It is high time that we, the citizens and the leaders of the largest democracy in the world, start behaving ourselves, otherwise the largest democracy will soon turn into a mobocracy.