As new information surfaces in connection with Shraddha Walkar's murder case, the heinous way she was killed, stored and disposed of forces us to rethink about a criminal's mindset. How heinous can a crime get? There is no answer to this!
Last week, the entire nation shook when the gory details of Shradhha Walkar murder case came out. Aftab Amin Poonwalla, a food blogger, her live-in partner and her lover for the past 3 years killed Shraddha on May 18 this year.
How did the crime surface?
Police swung into action after Shraddha's father lodged a complaint of his daughter missing. The complaint was registered on November 10, 5 months and 23 days after the death of Shraddha.
Aftab was arrested on November 12.
Read: 6 things that you say casually but scars your kid's mental health
Shraddha's body parts were found in Mehrauli forests. "He threw all the parts of the body in the forest and left thumb at some other location," ANI reported citing sources.
The couple had met through a dating app in 2019 and had shifted to Delhi's Chattarpur area after Shraddha was estranged from her family for continuing the relationship with Aftab.
Shraddha Walkar was killed following an argument. Aftab strangled her to death in order to shut her up during the fight.
He then chopped the body into 35 pieces, stored them in a refrigerator which he bought for Rs 19,000 as per reports. Aftab also used chemicals and bleaches to clean blood from the floor. He Googled to find ways to clean blood. He had also read about human anatomy before chopping off the body, media reported.
The web series 'Dexter' and its connection with the crime
As per the investigators, 28 year old Aftab was inspired by American crime show 'Dexter' to kill 26 year old Shraddha. "The police revealed that the entire case had elements from the fictional stories in the show 'Dexter'. Aftab was allegedly inspired by the show's main character, Dexter Morgan, who has homicidal tendencies.
In the show, Dexter used to cut his victim's bodies, packed the dismembered parts in a black garbage bags and then dumped them into an ocean.
Whether crime shows have the potential to influence the minds of the viewers still remains a debate, the cases where their references are made makes us stop for a moment and rethink about watching these shows with eagerness.
Do movies and shows inspire crime in real life?
Dexter has a 8.7 rating on IMDb. It is hugely popular among fans. The show is about Dexter Morgan who spends the day solving crimes and commits crime during the night time.
In 2011, Mark Twitchell, a Canadian filmmaker was convicted of killing John Brian Altinger and was said to have been inspired by Dexter Morgan.
This is not just one instance. There are several incidents in the past where the criminals have confessed to have drawn inspiration from crime shows and movies.
In September 2019, Kerala's Prem Kumar and his partner Sunitha Baby murdered the former's wife and covered their crime taking inspiration from the blockbuster movie 'Drishyam'. Drishyam, the sequel of which is also out in several languages including Hindi, portrays a perfect crime. In the movie a family disappears the body of a young man whom they had killed accidentally.
In 2016, Dipti Sarna's abduction hit national headlines. The kidnapper Devendra was inspired by Shah Rukh Khan's character in 1993’s Bollywood film Darr, in which Khan played a stalker. Devendra had abducted Dipti to win her love.
The story of Auto Shankar or Gowri Shankar sends shivers down the spines. Influenced by dark cinema, Auto Shankar kidnapped and murdered nine teenage girls in Chennai. He was hanged to death in 1995.
There are several crimes like murder, forgery, robbery, kidnapping and others which are inspired by movies and shows.
A research study says that the effects of media violence are moderated by situational characteristics of the presentation including how well it attracts and sustains attention, personal characteristics of the viewer including their aggressive predispositions, and characteristics of the physical and human context in which they are exposed to violence. The 2009 review article on "The Impact of Electronic Media Violence: Scientific Theory and Research" published in the Journal of Adolescent Health says that: the recent increase in the use of mobile phones, text messaging, e-mail, and chat rooms by our youth have opened new venues for social interaction in which aggression can occur and youth can be victimized—new venues that break the old boundaries of family, neighborhood, and community that might have protected our youth to some extent in the past.
"A volatile personality"
Days after Shraddha's body parts were recovered from the forests in Mehrauli, several people including her friend, her former manager came forward to testify to the fact that she was physically abused by Aftab.
Bruises were seen on her face and neck in old photos and friends have recollected how she had called them and opened up about being in an abusive relationship.
Reports of violence in relationships are not new. But unfortunately only fewer such cases come to fore. Many people hesitate to open up about their relationships for the fear of being judged and criticized.
Many people, women mostly, continue to remain in abusive relationships fearing ostracization from family and society. "One of things emerging is that Aftab was violent towards Shraddha already and had a volatile personality, but she continued in the relationship somehow," says Professor Rajita Kulkarni, President Sri Sri University, in a post on LinkedIn. "My sincere advice to young girls and women who live by themselves or in a live-in or married relationship: Please please speak up if you are facing violence at home or work, Your self esteem and life is more important than your relationship, If you notice something like this amongst your friends/ neighbors, please voice it out," Professor Kulkarni adds.
"I feel exactly the same numbness after hearing Shraddha Walker's case like that of 2013 Nirbhaya 's case : Spine chilling , horrific and making me weak in knees . Women really need to see these red flags b4 they make a man their entire universe & start revolving around them...," tweets Pragya Paarijat Singh, Advocate, Supreme Court of India.
"Calling him a psychopath does not help the victim"
"Calling people like Aftab Poonawalla a Psychopath or a psycho killer takes away the onus from responsibility for his alleged and confessed crime and puts onus on psychiatric diseases," says Sradhanjali Dasgupta, Consultant Psychologist at Apollo Clinic Sodepur.
In a LinkedIn post, she has written that "This narrative does no justice to the victim. It also further stigmatizes the mental health conversation. It adds further to the perception that Psychiatric patients are violent or murderous. What Aftab confessed to police as doing was not an act of lunacy. Most homicides are done by people with sanity. Almost all homicide cover ups are done by intelligent, privileged people with sanity."
