Alok Kumar Singh’s story just does not fade from the mind. At 32, he held a postgraduate degree and worked as a lecturer in mathematics at Narsee Monjee College of Commerce & Economics, Vile Parle–Juhu. He lived in Malad with his parents and wife and made the local train commute every day to work and back—like millions of us who have lived this life in Mumbai together for decades.

On the evening of January 24, Singh was returning home in a Churchgate–Borivali slow train with a colleague. He was planning, reports say, to take his wife out later in the evening to celebrate her birthday. Instead, his body lay lifeless and cold in the innards of a hospital in Kandivali, as his family struggled to come to terms with what had happened. Singh had been stabbed in his abdominal area by a co-commuter and apparently lay bleeding on the Malad platform till procedures could be completed. He was brought dead to the hospital.

Travel rage on Mumbai’s trains

What had happened is routine in Mumbai’s locals, as is well known. Jostling for space, stepping over toes, inadvertent push and pull of bags, and a shove from someone behind are enough to start fights that easily escalate into incidents of travel rage. Singh was its latest victim.

The aggressor, Omkar Shinde, 27, was caught after the railway police and other authorities identified him on CCTV cameras and lay in wait to arrest him. He confessed to stabbing Singh with a tweezer- or knife-like object because Singh had pointed out that he should not push, as there........

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