Sanjeev Kumar Patro

Bhubaneswar: In a big twist to the 1980's Anil Kapoor - Meenakshi Sheshadri starred film 'Love Marriage', where the film ended with a big caption 'Love Marriage is Injurious to Health', the NCRB report has, infact, showed that it's not injurious, rather, 'Love Affairs' have turned killer in Odisha. Ponder over well as the cupid arrow kills here.

Every ten days, at least one life meets a violent death in the State ostensibly for the cause of 'love'. As many as 54 persons got killed over 'love affairs' in Odisha in 2017, and Odisha figured among the top-10 states in the country. The horror list is led by UP and is followed by Bihar, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand.

When the murder over love affairs in the State accounted for over 4 per cent of total murders in the year 2017, an analysis of the age of  the victims (male and female) show majority belongs to the age-group of 18 -25 years. The surprising fact is 'Love Affairs' was the fourth largest motive behind murders in Odisha. Murder for dowry has been the topmost motive in Odisha, and is followed  by murder for gain, personal vendetta and land disputes.

An analysis of the Odisha police data with regard to gender-wise toll in 'Love affairs' reveals that while females were majorly killed in one-sided love affair, males become victim to revenge killing by the parents of the females. However, males make nearly 95 per cent of the toll.

The police investigations revealed that the 'compatibility' factor plays the key role in love meeting untimely death. The compatibility factor ranges from caste to class. In Odisha, cases of 'Love affairs' turning fatal over inter-religion dalliance were very few.

However, the solution to the problem seemingly lies in the 'mind'. When only a change in 'mindset' will curb this 'mindless' violence, strict law enforcement will stop killings in such one-sided 'Love Affairs', feel sociologists.

 

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