The Burari Deaths

I remember seeing this news on television 3 years back and thought it was bizarre. It was sensational news, which media were covering extensively with no brainer headlines. There were many theories of murder, suicide to black magic. But the reportage stopped abruptly and there was basically no closure to the case as per public eye. https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/11-bright-people-with-one-dark-secret/article24428709.ece

Then after 3 years Netflix made a documentary series on this unfortunate event and it was spot on. It did up to a point give a closure on what exactly happened, why it happened and it could have been avoided.

In stereotypical middle class Indian families (mostly joint families) father figure is decision maker and everyone blindly follows him and especially women are made to follow the orders and being told that its for their own good. In Burari case the pattern was similar followed by a Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Lalit, the younger brother and the primary inducer had been through an traumatic accident after which he had lost his voice and did not speak until after his father’s death. Family interlinked gaining of his voice as to “Daddy aa gaye” (Father has returned). This was a trigger point for Lalit and he might have gained that dominance over his family members which was a case of shared psychosis.

Over almost a decade family followed his orders as registered in a diary which was recovered. Even though there were facts to prove it was a result of shared psychosis, 11 was a large number of people to influence and for over a decade. There wasn't any kind of social isolation seen within the family as to have “cult” kind of effect on them. There were also younger generation who were educated and use to interact with their friends but was strange to believe that they didn't rebel against this idiotism.

If Lalit was treated for his PTSD on time was their possibility that family would have been alive by now? Maybe yes. Media could have successfully used this episode to educate and make society aware of mental health. Stigma around mental health in India is questionable and mostly result in such tragic incidents. Individual must know when to draw a line between faith and superstition.