In June, a 20-year-old woman was brutally murdered in Vasai East by a man in broad daylight. The man used a pipe wrench to hit her on the head and chest before throwing it on the road, after which he sat down near the body. The incident shocked everybody around them. According to reports, the brutal killing was due to problems in their six-year-long relationship, and the belief that she was cheating on him. Later, it also came to light that her parents hadn’t approved of the man and had told her to end their relationship. The subsequent actions highlight how he didn’t take the rejection well. Why it was hard for him to not accept the rejection is an aspect we may never know. However, it highlights the effect of people in romantic relationships not handling rejections properly and the effect it has on their mental health. 

Every year, World Mental Health Day is observed on October 10 to raise awareness, educate and advocate more about the social stigma. Over the years, there has been a growing focus on mental health in personal and professional life but the one aspect that is often lost is how people are affected when a relationship goes sour or face rejection. Like in the case of the Vasai couple, it leads them to take many different kinds of drastic actions that include murder too. The National Crime Records Bureau’s (NCRB) 2023 report highlighted that there were 4,45,256 cases of crimes against women reported in 2022 showing a rise of 4 per cent from 2021.