Why are Punekars getting violent over parking woes?

A day after seven goons barged into a classroom and threatened the lecturer in pic Avinash Dharmadhikari a former IAS officer and FounderDirector of Chanakya Mandal he identified four of them during a police identification parade yesterday ldquoI immediately recognised the four persons Surprisingly unlikeon the day of the incident all were frightened and were requesting me for mercy yesterdayrdquo said Dharmadhikari Vandalised A gang of seven men created a ruckus in the premises of Tilak College of Education located at SP College on Sunday eveningu00a0PicKrunal Gosavi After they were identified the Vishrambaug police arrested the main culprit and booked the other six on charges of vandalizing the premises of Tilak College of Education and damaging the vehicles parked in the vicinity on Sunday evening The arrested person has been identified as Shravan alias Rahul Ashok Burungale 20 a resident of Dandekar Bridge A local court has remanded him in police custody for two days Police said they are ascertaining the roles of the three others identified by Dharmadhikari before apprehending them Damaged doors of the college The prosecution had demanded custodial interrogation of the arrested accused to find out the whereabouts of the remaining three who are absconding and to recover the cricket bats and hockey sticks used in the violence lsquoGoonda rajrsquo The brazen act of violence at Tilak College of Education has put the spotlight back on criminality by youths who enjoy political support from their godfathers said Dharmadhikari when MiD DAY asked him about the reasons for the rise in intolerance levels among the cityrsquos youth Miscreants broke the notice boards in the college ldquoSuch incidents have many facets but most of the time it takesa violent turn after a trivial matter I think one of the main reasons is that the miscreants are confident about their political backing and hence they are not at all worried about repercussions of their behaviourrdquo Dharmadhikari said Smash bang On Sunday evening enraged over an argument with two students over a parking spot in Tilak College of Education a group of seven youths went on a rampage u00a0and shattered the glasses of several parked vehicles ldquoI think that these boys directing abusive language towards a teacher shows the failure of their family values This proves that they were never told by the elders in their family how to behave in public or how to address a teacherrdquo Dharmadhikari added SP College bears the brunt In a similar incident two months ago on October 9 during the controversy of the backdoor admission row in SP College a politically motivated mob locked the college Vice Principal Surekha Dange and some government officials On their way out the goons also shattered the glasses of several vehicles parked in college premises Mindless violence Another dispute over a parking space was reported wherein a chemist Prashant Shendkar was assaulted by a doctor identified as Ketan Shelar a resident of Kalas near Yerawada on Sunday According to the complaint filed by Shendkar Shelar used to park his vehicle in front of his store Shelar was also sending offensive messages to Shendkar When the complainant questioned Shelar and his uncle over his conduct Shelar assaulted him with a sharp weapon Parking spot fights This is not the first case of lsquogoonda rajrsquo reported in the city overa parking spot In the past there have been similar incidents wherein a small argument over parking has taken a violent turn Additional Commissioner of Police Crime Shahaji Solunke recalled a recent incident wherein some unidentified persons beat up the son of a senior police officer over a trivial issue ldquoThe boy was heading to his place when his car banged against a stationary twowheeler in Bund Garden Neither was there any damage to the vehicle nor was anyone injured in the incident When the boy decided to shift the vehicle to a safer spot and stepped out of his vehicle a few persons approached him and started beating him mercilessly He was so frightened that he called me uprdquo Solunke said Such incidents have become common nowadays and a proper study needs to be conducted to ascertain the reasons behind such acts by citizens Solunke said ldquoEasy money coming from realestate dealings and other sources has made people impatient in terms of social conduct According to my observations consumerism and greed of material benefits is to be blamed for this Changes take place in society but this social acceleration that we are experiencing is too fast paced to handlerdquo Solunke added Is road rage hereditary Dr Bharat Desai senior psychologist and former HoD of the psychology department Abasaheb Garware College while commenting on the increasing incidents of road rage and aggression said ldquoPeople having psychotic tendencies can behave aggressively like this This is a personality disorder and could be hereditary These people also react unreasonably over a small issuerdquo ldquoWe have to consider the adolescent age of these men who are involved in such kind of incidents On one side there is a challenge of survival and at the same time there is tremendous insecurity of earning money getting good jobs All these frustrations come out during such incidentsrdquo Desai added The incident The incident took place on Sunday evening when Dharmadhikari founder director of the Chanakya Mandal was delivering a lecture in one of the classrooms of the college Armed with hockey sticks and bats a gang of seven men barged into the first floor classroom looking for two students who were embroiled in a tiff with one of them over a parking issue minutes earlier When they directed profanities at Dharmadhikari the students took offence and asked the gang to leave On their way out they destroyed the college notice boards broke windowpanes and damaged several vehicles parked on the premises of the college 7 Number of goons who vandalised the vehiclesu00a0