Insta Infamy

 

    19-year-old Srikanth is a resident of a village on the outskirts of a big city. After passing PUC, he joined a hardware store in a nearby urban area. After closing the shop at 8 o'clock that night, he left for home on a scooter. Then a car coming from behind Srikanth hit his scooter. Srikanth fell down. As he got up, four people got out of the car and came to him. While watching, they stabbed Srikanth in the back and chest, got into the car, and left.

    Injured Srikanth was screaming loudly in pain. To his credit, a person who had come there saw him and rushed to him. After hearing what happened, he called his friends to the place. Friends of the stranger who reached there within five minutes took Srikanth to a nearby hospital in their car. Srikanth told the doctor how the stab wounds on the chest and back happened. The police were immediately called. He also told the police that some youths who came in the car punched him from behind and stabbed him when he fell down.    

    The people who brought Srikanth to the hospital said that they do not know how the incident happened. After some time, when Srikanth's parents came to the hospital, the police also questioned them. Srikanth is our only son. He and we have no enmity with anyone. We have cultivated our own fields; he has no love affair with anyone. We have not taken a loan from anyone', they said. The police registered a case of grievous hurt, went to the scene of the incident the next morning, and recorded a details of a crime scene and of the actions taken during the search of it. The treatment failed, and Srikanth died in the hospital that night. Police registered a case of murder and continued the investigation.

    Two kilometers from the place where the incident took place. At 7.30 that night, a Maruti Swift car was standing on another road far away. A bike rider passing by on the same road said that there were four youths standing in front of it who were drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana, and blaring songs were being heard on their car stereo. The police approached the local RTO officials and asked if anyone living within 25 km of the incident had a Maruti Swift car. Then the names of both were found. On inquiring about him with the locals, the resident of one house was a retired bank officer who lived with his wife. The second person come from Tamil Nadu and lived with his family in a farm house. He has  only son who is 18 years old and is studying  PUC. It was also learned that he was staying in the college hostel.

    As the teenager had stabbed Srikanth, the police went to his college to inquire about the student. Identifying the young man as Prateek, the principal said, 'Prateek is one of the notorious rowdy students of our college. We have given him several notices to expel him from the college. But because his father has given a lot of donations to the college, the ruling class has not given me permission to expel him,' he said. The police inquired at his hostel, where he was on the day of the incident.

     When the police inquired about Prateek's where about at his hostel on the day of the incident, they learned that he was not staying in the hostel most of the days and was going to have fun in his father's car. It was also learned that he was not in the hostel for the previous five days. Meanwhile, Prateek came to the hostel. Prateek started running when he saw his classmates pointing him to the police. Then the police caught him and took him to the police station. After two minutes of questioning at the station, Prateek admitted that he and his friends had hit a youth riding a scooter on the road, knocked him down, and stabbed him. 'Did you know Srikanth, who was killed, and for what reason did you kill him?' When asked, Prateek said:

    'I am addicted to cannabis and alcohol. That night, my friends and I went to a deserted road and smoked marijuana there. Then I decided to do something adventurous and put it on my Instagram page. I have an account on Instagram called Jackie and have ten thousand followers. I want to be a don and scare everyone. I wanted to kill someone and post a video on Instagram to become famous. As he was looking for someone to kill, he saw a young man driving a scooter on a deserted road. I was driving a car when I hit that scooter. As soon as he fell down, I gave my mobile phone to my friend and asked him to video my stunt in the light of the car's headlight. Then I stopped the car and went to the young man and stabbed him in the back and chest. A video recording of this scene was done by my friend.

    Then we all sat in the car and left from there. I left my friends at their place and went home. He told his father what had happened. They gave money, saying don't stay here, go to Chennai. The same night, I took a taxi and went to Chennai with my friends. After a few days, no one knows about me; I have just returned as my father told me to come home.' There was a video recording of Srikanth's murder on Prateek's mobile. Prateek had sent that video to three friends and other close friends who were with him that night through Whats-app.

    Moreover, his contact list contained the names of all the notorious rowdies in the area. He and friends were later arrested. Prateek tried to escape from the police while returning to the station, showing the spot where the bloody knife used for the murder had been thrown. Then the investigator shot him in the leg. He fell down, injured. He was admitted to the hospital. Next, apart from the three people who were with Prateek, his father, who had concealed the murder case, was also arrested, and all were sent to judicial custody. The investigation is over, and the trial of the case is before the court. As Prateek's father decided to tolerate all his son's misdeeds, the death of an innocent led to the imprisonment of five people. (1)

    Parents play a pivotal role in educating their children. Parents are the first teachers. So when a kid makes a mistake, parents have to recognize and correct it. Parents have to shape and mould the child’s behavior. Parents involvement in early childhood education makes a difference in school and throughout life. And a child’s attitude towards learning behavior is formed at the family level, so parents should have a good attitude towards the child as well. Home is the first school, and parents are the first teachers. Everything starts from there, so when a child makes a mistake, don’t take it easily. Today it may be a small mistake, but tomorrow it may lead to big trouble. Parents should teach their children to accept their mistakes and reward them when they do good work. Rewards lead to good behavior. As mentioned in the above case, because of the parents attitude and behavior, a boy is committing a crime and killing an innocent boy. Prateek has confidence in money and his father. Whatever he does, his father will save him from that crime. If Prateek's father was good and responsible, he would have corrected Prateek's behavior; this could not have led to the death of an innocent boy. They could have saved a boy as well as themselves from going to jail.

Reference

1] Dr.D.V Guruprasad, 2024 January 28, “ಇನ್‌ಸ್ಟಾಗ್ರಾಂ ಹುಚ್ಚು ತಂದ ಆಪತ್ತು”, A Kshana, Vijayavani, Bengaluru, Page No-II