A 25-year-old youth from Jharkhand, who lost his job a few days ago, allegedly stabbed a BMTC (Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation) bus conductor on Tuesday, October 1, for asking him not to stand on the footboard.
After the incident, he reportedly started shouting that he would prefer to stay in jail as nobody is giving him a job.
Experts said Harsh Sinha, the accused, might have committed the act out of frustration. Whitefield police have arrested Sinha and filed an attempt to murder case against him, stated a report by The New Indian Express.
The incident, as it happened
Sinha, a BCom graduate, worked with a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) firm and lived in Hope Farm. He was sacked from his job 20 days ago, and he has been looking for a new job since then.
The incident happened near Vydehi Circle around 5.50 pm in the BMTC bus (route No 500 ITPL-Banashankari).
Sinha, who stood near the footboard, caused inconvenience to passengers getting into the bus. Conductor Yogesh, 45, who noticed this, asked Sinha to go inside the bus.
Enraged by this, Sinha pulled out a knife from his backpack and stabbed the conductor. Sinha then threatened other passengers that he would stab them too if they tried to catch him.
Seeing his violent behaviour, everybody in the crowded bus started screaming. As the doors were open, passengers, including the injured conductor, hurriedly got out of the bus.
However, driver Siddalingaswamy locked both the doors of the bus before Sinha could get out. The CCTV footage from the bus shows Sinha stabbing the conductor and threatening other passengers.
The conductor, who was stabbed in the abdomen, was rushed to a private hospital. He is out of danger.
"Sinha not only carried a knife, but also a hammer. The BMTC bus (KA 57 F 0015) of the 13th depot has been seized," a police officer said.
"Sinha has been arrested for attempting to murder the conductor. He has been booked under Section 109 of BNS (attempt to murder) and sent to judicial custody. Frustration could be the reason for the attack. The act of the accused is without any provocation," Shivakumar, DCP (Whitefield), told The New Indian Express.
Extreme reactions!
Dr Sunil, Director and Facilitator, Cadabams Hospitals, said, "In this case, the individual’s frustration over being unemployed and unfulfilled desires could have led to the incident. These are what we call triggers. Unless there are mental health issues, extreme reactions are rare. No matter how short-tempered an individual may be, it is difficult to imagine that he would resort to physically attacking someone," Dr Sunil said.
"The individual may have underlying psychiatric problems that are unrecognised or untreated, and may also be under the influence of substances such as marijuana and alcohol. When under the influence of such substances, individuals may resort to extreme behaviour," Dr Sunil said, stated The New Indian Express report.
