Bini Dahal

It is quite terrifying to hear that a majority of murders these days are committed by close relatives of the victims. This highlights the growing social animosity and a lack of humanity among people. While the causes behind such homicides can be varied, one of the most common is personal revenge in the name of honour.

The recent killing of six members of a family in a village of Sankhuwasabha district was very shocking. Tej Bahadur Karki, his mother, spouse, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren became the victims of a gruesome murder. Their age ranged from five to 84 years. Initially, the police had to scramble for identifying the murder suspect. The victims’ house had not been robbed and apparently, the family had no feud with anyone around. However, as time passed by, the police investigation led to the murderer, Lok Bahadur Karki, a close relative of the family.

According to media reports based on police investigation, 25-year-old Lok Bahadur had felt humiliated by Tej Bahadur on multiple occasions. A sense of guilt had accumulated in his mind and heart. This is what drove him to hit Tej Bahadur with a club. Other family members were killed to prevent them from exposing his assault. Additional facts about this incident are expected to come out sooner or later as the police probe into it is still underway.

It is said that the best revenge is gaining a massive success. Lok Bahadur could have utilised his deep-seated anger and ego in proving his abilities to others. He could have listened to the criticism and felt it was for his own good. However, he could not do so. Anger had muddled his rationality and he could not find any reason to keep up with the continuous humiliation.
The act of revenge could be a form of defense for the murderer. But he destroyed the lives of six people and was no less than a devil. He did not leave room for anyone to defend him. But had Tej Bahadur been more encouraging and careful with his choice of words, would Lok Bahadur have gone to this extent? This question keeps pestering me.

Words are like swords and the majority of us show a highly sensitive behaviour. We feel like we are counselling others for their betterment, but those counselled might be feeling highly disrespected. Yet, instead of directly harming another person, Lok Bahadur could have simply confronted Tej Bahadur for the continuous humiliation.

We have heard about crimes like mass shootings in the United States and other countries, especially in educational institutes or the workplaces. The psychology behind mass shootings has been reported to be mostly rooted in a sense of revenge or envy as many shooters are found feeling rejected. Executing a perfect case of mass murder out of revenge, that too in Nepali society, is beyond our imagination.

We have to put a stop on revengeful crimes. This should begin from childhood. Children should be taught empathy. They should be taught to show love and compassion to others. Another thing is the ability to cope with criticisms. Even if we feel humiliated, we should not be disheartened. Instead, we should work for our betterment. The local authorities and the police also should be tougher in terms of meting out legal punishments on those directly or indirectly involved in crimes. Let there be little negativity and more positivity in our surroundings.