New Delhi: Quarrel over using toilet first can cost you your life in Delhi where denizens do not seem to need any major reason to lose their cool.
Police statistics show that around 16 per cent of the 251 murders in the capital this year till June were due to sudden provocation on trivial issues.
A man was killed in Civil Lines in February following a quarrel over using the toilet while another murdered his colleague's six-year-old child for not allowing him to enter the house in Kapashera on February 20.
Another murder on short fuse was reported on February 12 when a man who was mediating between two fighting parties was killed, while an altercation following a minor collision between two vehicles in Anand Parbat on March 24 led to the killing of another.
"An analysis of motives in murder cases this year reveals that around 16 per cent of the cases were due to sudden provocation on trivial issues and 10 per cent were passion triggered," a senior police official said.
Six per cent of the murders were due to old enmity while three per cent were due to property or money disputes. Seventeen per cent of 518 murders committed last year were due to sudden provocation on trivial issues. A cook was shot dead last year for not serving papad while two persons were killed for tying a goat and placing ladder in front of their neighbour's house.
Delhi also saw a youth killing his sister-in-law for not washing his clothes, a security guard murdering his colleague for not relieving him on time and while a man murdered a dhaba owner after water fell on his clothes.
According to police statistics, murders in the capital are not evenly spread.
Out of 133 police stations in the national capital, 37 police station areas have not reported a single incident while one or two murders were reported in 62 police stations.
"Three murders were reported in 19 police stations while four murders were reported from ten police stations," the official said adding five police stations reported more than four murders.