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The Sword Attack

We are pretty amazing when it comes to an analysis after the event has happened. The event about a depressed engineer who ran out of his house with a sword attack rampage attacking close to 20 people on the streets. The sword attack incident got out of hand and the police was not able to pacify him, they opened fire and the unfortunate man died on his way to the hospital (Indian Express, Dec 2015). There are a couple of things which really bother me about the issue

1) Depression leading to a Sword Attack?

Like I said, it is very easy to think about things in retrospect, but it is equally important to know what we learn from an incident. The failure in UPSC being made out as a big deal is an indigestible fact for me. It is just an exam with a lot of variables and a huge amount of competition. Was this just an inability to handle failure and the constant embarrassment for not clearing an exam?

I think a big deal is made out of the UPSC exams in India and the IAS posts. I am not really sure whether these jobs were great or are great. The world right now is changing and there are so many options out there. It is time that we realise it is just another government job and stop making it one of the best things that can ever happen to you. Granted that there are some unwritten perks you enjoy with the job like social recognition, strong networks and what not – but that is not everything in life is it? Come on, the world is bigger than the small UPSC bubble!

2) Was shooting a bullet the only option?

This is another thing which seriously bothers me now. Forgive me for the silly question here – was shooting the only option. Granted that the man had a sword and it was the moment where the police had to act with the best option he had in mind. Maybe the circumstances made shooting the only option, but I am thinking of a loss of life here. Could the life have been saved by using a stun gun instead? – something with a tranquilliser?

I agree that pacifying him would have been an ideal solution but I also appreciate the fact that it would be naive of me to assume that it could be done that way. But what about tear gas or any other options like that? Just a little something to shock him or make him unconscious would have been sufficient wouldn’t it?

As I said, it is easy for me to sit here and type about something that has already happened. You may say that the situation was different – I am just asking a basic question here – why was a civil violence handled in a manner in which a criminal offence would be? Don’t we have any infrastructure at all to handle a civil violence? Is gun the only resort or could we be a little smarter than that?

The way I see it, the whole thing could be solved with a stun gun and psychological therapy for depression. Isn’t a loss of life expensive for that lesson?