DO WE SPECIALISE IN SOCIAL DEVIANCE ?

by Alok K. Shrivastava, IAS (R)May 8, 2026Welfare0 comments

This title may appear awkward after just concluded and subdued Labour Day celebrations and successful electoral hyper activity involving a few national parties vis a vis regional outfits in five crucial states. But it does reflect the ripples emanating from ongoing social reality.

The May Day

The May Day is observed in over 70 countries since 1st May 1890 to honour labour movements, right of workers and the path breaking struggle for an eight hour work day. It commemorates Haymarket riots in Chicago in 1886, when labourers joined protests for better conditions in farms and factories. Not only global parades and demonstrations are held but sacrifices and contributions of labour class, all over the world are also recalled.

World Scenario

May Day marches have emerged as the best organised international attempts aimed at SOCIAL DEVIANCE. It may, nonetheless, be flagged that widespread protests against the landlords and factory owners all over Europe during the Industrial Revolution may have been the actual PRECURSORS to the May Day Celebrations. Such acts were used and exploited effectively to their advantage by thinkers, activists and divisive philosophers such as, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Rosa Luxumberg etc. These were further pushed forward by involvement of much wider spectrum led by V. Lenin, Stalin ,Mao Tse Tung, Fidel Castro etc.

May Day & Related Events in India

In India it was organised for the first time on May 1,1923 at Madras by the then Labour Kisan Party of Hindustan under the leadership of Communist leader M.S.Chettiyar.

Gradually holidays are being declared on May Day to pursue the spirit of international labour movements. Such a celebration is an attempt to assert work only for eight hours and to resist the nefarious practice of extra hours with meagre payments.

Despite so many labour enactments and reforms, majority of workers have to put in 12 hours of work with no weekly off in the entire Delhi, N.C.R. and other metros . Payments released, worker wise, by the owners is never made in full by the contractors & agencies. For instance, against an agreed amount of Rs.14 to Rs.16 thousand per month per workman, each Guard, Security man, Gardner or Safai Karamchari receives barely Rs.12,000/ per month. Undoubtedly, it is bound to cause distress, misery and discomfort. It leads to social upheavals, at times, as basic food grain and health demands can not be met.

Protests, demonstrations and Dharnas are organised therefore, time and again. One burning and recent example was a large scale two day strike and Jam in NOIDA and some other places, two weeks ago.

To address the issue, U.P. Government announced a Health Insurance Scheme of Rs.5 lakhs each for one crore labour families of U.P. The Chief Minister also announced a Special School & Housing scheme for wards of labourers.

Opposition parties, rightly, on the other hand, have felt that state Government is exploiting the workers by way of new labour legislations & flimsy assurances.

INDIVIDUAL CASES OF SOCIALLY DEVIANT ACTS

Such acts or misdeeds keep happening , day in and day out under the umbrella of our Socialistic Pattern of Society. You switch on the Cell phone, brouse through Net or begin reading a Newspaper fairly early in morning, you are bound to come across many such acts which may not only shock but may rattle your imagination, as such. Nothing like just action emerges. One refuses to believe that fair and minimum wages should be the right of those who toil longer than what is mandated. It should not be at the discretion of the GIVERS.

Apart from the labour class, youth, especially the teenagers are becoming a cause of serious Social Deviance due to emergence of new technologies, followed by their quick updation.

If denied such flashy gadgets, ruckus is caused within home in which Mothers support their ‘darling’ sons. Daughters become immaterial.

**********

My sample size is very small. It is confined to barely 25 deviant incidents spread over to 5 to 6 days, covering the period April end To first week of May, 2026.

(A) Rape, Dacoity & murder of an unmarried IIT Graduate & an IAS aspirant woman by a domestic help in Delhi. In this case it is not that the 23 year old assailant had a strong intent to commit the described acts but he did everything owing to sudden losses of several (?) lakhs of Rupees, suffered by him due to his addiction to ON LINE GAMBLING.

Such incidents are rampant in all the big towns,

(B) In another case, a 68 year old Director of an Institute of Journalism at Keralam has been held for sexual assault on his student in a train. How this crime at ripe old age was committed, that needs special investigation. Was it true or alleged only ?

(C) In a still another case of Delhi, a woman Advocate was found assaulted several times by her husband. Apart from suffering for many days (alongwith her three kids) when she was taken for treatment, she was refused admission in four hospitals.Inhuman indeed !

(D) In Surat, one budding & hardworking Dietician having two sons was killed by her unemployed husband. Her body, in a box, was burried inside their house. Later a missing person complaint was lodged with Police by the husband. After many days, husband confessed to have killed her.

(E) Murders, assaults and rapes are not only committed by men. Women too are not only taking a lead but are also abetting such crimes.

In two separate incidents near Hyderabad and Vadodara, involving normal fights over lunch, wives in question used sharp objects, such as, sickle and kitchen knives to hit and finish off their husbands.

(F) In a recent case of Delhi, Aman K.Sharma, Judicial Magistrate I ,was found to have committed suicide inside his bathroom owing to frequent fights he would have with his Judicial Magistrate spouse.Her IAS sister is reported to have interfered unnecessarily in this marital dispute, a couple of times. The wife in question was so inhuman NOT to attend cremation of her dead husband at Alwar.

(G) In the same way, many young girls & women of Delhi & N.C.R. are found involved in cajoling, prostitution, cyber frauds worth Rs.18 Crore or above, cheating, making money in the name of wedding etc. One has to be very careful if a strange young woman is on line. Hundreds of such cases are noticed in a month on the hot spots of Pitampura and Ranibagh.

ARE NOT THESE SOCIALLY DEVIANT ACTS ?

(H) Drug Addiction Cases and jaunts late at night involving budding or established artists, film stars etc.: These keep happening but only a few come to notice. Rightly or wrongly late upcoming Filmstar, Sushant Singh Rajput was involved/ was a victim. A few days ago, a few of his erstwhile friends, Shradha & Sidhant Kapoor and Nora Fatehi have been absolved of all charges after four years of trial but a few of the influencers are still the suspects.

Bigwigs from Dubai and South America behind such rackets, are never caught and if caught, their trial runs for a decade or so. Salim Dola, one high ranking Drug Peddler & a close associate of Dawood Ibrahim has been also extradited to India but will it prevent such socially deviant crimes ?

(I) Delhi Police has organised a “Drug Free Life Style Through Sports” camp at De Addiction centres, Schools and J.J. clusters. Idea was to engage youth and discourage Substance Abuse by building resilience and discipline. Events were : tug of war, Volleyball, Arm Wrestling & Running.

Impact of these steps over teenagers is minimal as the concerned institutions fill up columns only and do not resort to Follow Up actions.

(J) Talking of drugs, Opium, Cocaine etc, these are openly grown in many North Eastern and hilly states. Authorities not only know the spots but also the trafficking routes. Fact however, remains that these are procured easily, consumed and anti social & national acts are performed in a regular way,

(K) Incidents of custodial deaths of under trials apprehended after committing minor crimes.

These happen when mostly teenagers or persons upto the age of 20 fall in the trap of deviant acts. As their parents donot pursue their cases or lack of money enteres the scene, such elements linger on. In a startling disclosure, a few days ago,

54 custodial deaths were recorded in Maharastra alone between 2020 & 2023. Most of these were caused by suicides,

(L) In a rare episode in a Madhya Pradesh village a 70 year old man was beaten, abducted and he & his wife was compelled to drink urine twice after it was found that their son had eloped with a minor girl.

Though this dastardly act was committed in March, it came to notice only on 24th March, when shared through a video.At the time of incident both son and girl were not located,

(M) Unchecked Violence in Manipur : Manipur is in news, due to ethnic clashes since May 20, 2023. Earlier these involved Meitei and Kuki-ZO tribes. Now latter are having clashes with Naga tribes of Ukhrul District. More than 25 persons have died ever since popular Government has taken charge on February 3.

In latest clashes, three persons have died and the last one was unthinkable when two minor children were also killed. Bodies of minors were accepted by the Parents after a gap of 23 days.

Manipur clashes for a long time, are linked to smuggling, arms looting and drug adduction activities. Mass rallies from time to time too, are unable to contain new fronts of socially deviant violence.

(N) In another daring incident in Bulandsahar, U.P., purely inspired by Cell culture, during a normal birthday party of a Trainer, two groups of youth ,three each, fought over attempt to smear Cake on the face of the Trainer. Three brothers in no time, shot at three opponents and were apprehended.

Feeling of rivalry & competition may have led to escalation of tension. The next day one accused was killed in an encounter, when Police sought his help to locate a revolver (Katta),

(M) After a long gap, a serving Minister of Maharastra has been sentenced to only one month prison and imposed a fine of Rs.One lakh for throwing muddly water on the face & body of an Engineer of NHAI on July 4, 2019. But suspending sentence for giving time for filing appeal was not needed as in the opinion of A.S.J., Sidhudurg, Lawmakers like him and his assistants were not expected to take law into their hands,

(N) The news making rounds in Social media, T.V. and newspapers over the last few days, concerns Neeraj Balhara, a Delhi Police Head Costable who killed mercilessly, in point blank range Pandav Kumar, a 21 year old food delivery boy at Jaffarpur Kalan village in Dwarka. Krishna, his friend on the pilion seat of a mobike was injured. It has unnecessarily been given communal colour by calling the deceased ‘a Bihari’ by the assailant and all non Biharis appear to be enjoying (sic).

How service revolver was given to the Head constable “off duty” that may have to be explained to the Court and stern action will have to be taken against Delhi Police & arrested H.C.

(O) Four to five episodes of engaging BOUNCERS at the rate of Rs 1,200 to Rs 5,000 per hour for a 8 hour OR 16 hours shift to keep a watch over teen aged children to prevent them from using Cell phone, Gaming or even beating Mothers and dogs have been reported by a national paper two days ago (based on Gujarat inputs).

Thus an amount of Rs 40,000/ to Rs 60,000/ is being spent by the heads of super rich families. In one case, a 16 year old girl has been reported to throw items like T.V. or Micro wave through her high rise window, thus insulting her mother, after Bouncers finish their duty.

These are certainly worst or extreme cases of Social Deviance for which MOSTLY, developments within the household ARE RESPONSIBLE.

Conclusion

These are mere selected incidents of Social Deviance. Government authorities, instead of controlling or resolving them, either turn a blind eye or “act” only in a very casual or routined fashion.

Needless to say, such gory incidents go on piling.

Who will bell the cat , that’s the question ? Incidents have happened in the past, these are bound to happen again as long as we in society are under a strong grip of technology, its changing manifestation and A.I., the latest demon knocking at our door.