Jan. 25: Psychologists blamed the rising stress level of people as the prime trigger for the vandalism that a speeding schoolbus unleashed after crushing a man to death today.

A mob, furious over the irresponsibility of the traffic police, went on the rampage and burnt down a traffic police booth at Jonali.

Vandalism has become a routine affair these days, with the public turning violent at the slightest pretext. According to psychologists, stress levels are at an all time high in the present world but people do not get the opportunity to express their frustrations and dissatisfactions. Hence, they take cue from such incidents to vent their pent-up anger and irritation.

City-based psychiatrist Jayanta Das said, “The stress level of people has gone up tremendously primarily because they are in a rat race to achieve much within a short time and when they fail to do so, they get frustrated and irritated. Moreover, people in general are also dissatisfied with the system and corruption. So, when they witness an incident where a man loses his life or limb, they give vent to their suppressed anger and irritation by engaging in violence.”

But not all bystanders resort to violence to express their dissatisfaction, he added. Actually, there may be about three to four highly stressed persons who do not know how to handle their tension logically. They may react violently and a few may join in without logically thinking about the pros and cons of their action.

Das said a majority of the people can express their dissatisfaction over a particular incident without resorting to violence. “And such responsible individuals can play a major role by making an effort to pacify the few persons who turn violent. This will help to prevent public vandalism.”

With such acts of violence becoming common, the police also need to be trained on handling these situations.

While the accident occurred mainly because of the bus driver’s failure to adhere to traffic norms, not a single traffic policeman was present at the nearby traffic booth to control the situation — not even after people informed the police about the incident.

Eyewitnesses said the police arrived at the spot about 45 minutes after the incident, by which time the situation had already spun out of control with the public burning down the booth. The incident could have been prevented had personnel from Geetanagar police station, which is located about a kilometre from Jonali, arrived on time.

Senior superintendent of police (city) Apurba Jiban Baruah said people might have grievances but destruction of public property was totally unwarranted and undesirable. “One traffic police booth costs more than Rs 3 lakh. There is no point in setting it on fire because such acts of vandalism will not achieve anything meaningful except causing loss of public money.” The police will register a case against unknown miscreants for destruction of public property, Baruah said.

“Today, policemen exercised maximum restraint. We could have used force and resorted to lathicharge but we desisted from doing so because it could have worsened the situation and injured passersby,” he added.