do developed countries have more serial killers than India?

Yes. And no. Read on to get the full(-ish) picture.

“An edge-of-the-seat experience.”

“Potent enough to excite anyone.”

“Blends expert commentary with valuable socio-political context.”

These are reviews for a Netflix documentary called Indian Butcher-The Diary of a Serial Killer.

The term “serial killer” is said to be coined by former FBI special agent Robert Ressler, who used the term serial homicide in 1974 in a lecture at Police Staff College, in England. At a 2005 symposium in Texas, USA, the FBI officially defined serial killing as “the unlawful killing of two or more victims by the same offender, in separate events. The serial killers of USA are famous, or rather, infamous around the globe, partly due to the frenzy and curiosity they evoke among people. The “charming” Ted Bundy, the “elusive” Golden State Killer, and the “twisted” Jeffery Dahmer- all have their own Netflix shows that consistently top the charts.

Its a common assumption that serial killers are a western invention, owing to the popularity of western true crime movies and podcasts. Granted- USA, UK and Russia top the charts with the most (convicted) serial killers according to the World Population Review but you will be shocked to find that India is not low on this list- ranking 5th.

The Netflix shows only scratch the surface of this phenomenon.

It’s a fair question to ask- Are serial killers more prevalent in developed nations and a relatively new phenomenon in India?

Are we wrong to associate serial killing sprees with developed nations?

India has had its fair share of serial killers. The concept of a pathological murderer on a killing spree gained national attention after the Nithari murders left India in shock in 2006. Recently, the half-documentary, half-fictitious movie Sector 36 starring Vikrant Massey brought the case back into the collective consciousness of Indians. But the Nithari killings weren’t the first, though it was the case that received the most infamy in 21st century India. It is estimated that the Thuggee cult in India may have been responsible for the deaths of up to one million people between 1740 and 1840. One notorious member, Thug Behram, is thought to have killed as many as 931 individuals. Over centuries, various ruling authorities in India, including the Khalji dynasty, the Mughal Empire, and later the British Raj, made efforts to suppress the Thuggee’s criminal operations.

You may or may not have heard of Auto Shankar, Doctor Death or Cynide Mohan who were convicted in 1991, 2004 and 2009 respectively. Gowri Shankar, later dubbed as notorious serial killer Auto Shankar, was an auto-rickshaw driver convicted of abducting, raping, and killing 6 people. He was also involved in human trafficking and arrack smuggling. Sentenced to death in 1991, he was executed in 1995 at Salem Central Prison, Tamil Nadu.

Mohan Kumar, also known as Cyanide Mohan, was convicted of killing 20 women by promising marriage, raping them, and giving them cyanide pills disguised as contraceptives. He used this method in all his murders. Mohan was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Doctor Death was the nickname given to a man named Devendra Sharma, an Ayurvedic doctor who was convicted of more than 50 murders, dumping his victims’ bodies in crocodile-infested canals. In 2008, he was sentenced to death.

Ofcourse these cases did not achieve global notoriety to the scale of the Bundy or Dahmer murders, but they show us, nonetheless, that serial killers are not a western concept, but a reality in the Indian criminal and social landscape.

So it might seem that serial murders are few and far between in India, but the truth is, we just don’t know! Here’s the thing- serial killings aren’t recognised as a standalone offence under India’s updated criminal code, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The law doesn’t carve out a special category for a murderer who kills repeatedly- instead, each death is treated as a separate count of murder under Sections 101 and 103. The only nod to patterns is the interpretation clause that allows an “act” to include a “series of acts”, which helps prosecutors link the killings to show method, motive, or continuity. Unless the crimes fall under “organised crime” such as contract killings committed by a syndicate- there’s no unique legal label for serial murder. In practice, a serial killer is simply charged with multiple murders, each carrying penalties up to life imprisonment or death.

Compare this with how developed nations have established criminal profiling and serial killer task forces. Psychological forensics is relatively new to India and law enforcement in India sometimes struggles with poor forensic capabilities and inconsistent record-keeping, which might obscure the identification of patterns in murders. A 2017 report by the CAG found that high vacancy rates among scientific officers, budget under-utilization and bureaucratic delays hindered solving criminal cases in India. The report also noted that across forensic science laboratories, the examination rate in DNA profiling “drastically declined” in 2016 and 2017, which was accompanied by a rise in pendency rates.

In October 2021, IndiaSpend, a non-profit organisation that works in the field of data journalism reported on the large number of cases closed by police due to the ‘lack of evidence’. One of the problems was the inadequate forensics infrastructure in India, which poses problems in timely investigation and completion of cases, as reported by The Wire Science.

Many police personnel in India lack adequate training in modern crime-solving techniques, forensic science, and cybercrime investigation, leading to poor-quality investigations, wrongful arrests, and mounting case backlogs. Insufficient training in handling gender-sensitive cases further hampers justice for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking. According to the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), most states have an alarmingly low percentage of trained police officers, with significant shortcomings in weapon training and a lack of proper training infrastructure. The situation is worsened by the severe shortage of forensic experts- India has only 0.33 forensic scientists per 0.1 million population, compared to 20 to 50 per 0.1 million in developed countries. This combination of inadequate police training and limited forensic expertise critically undermines the effectiveness and credibility of the criminal justice system.

Even if the files do reach the courts, they are stacked under thousands of more urgent files, as case backlog in Supreme Court hits all-time high of 88,417. District Courts have nearly 4.6 crore pending cases and High Courts have nearly 63 lakh case pendency as per data from the National Judicial Data Grid.

So the question about the population of indian serial killers is tricky to answer, because we only know of the ones that came to light, after transversing a very long & complicated law enforcement & judicial landscape.

Is it possible that we think that serial killers in India are rare because they are underreported due to law enforcement limitations? Possibly.

But as of now, there is not enough data for us to get a conclusive answer.

The Legal Service India’s e-journal discussed that serial killers are often associated with severe mental illnesses, such as paranoid schizophrenia, depression, and other psychological disorders. Many of these individuals may not fully comprehend the nature or wrongfulness of their actions due to their mental health conditions. For instance, Raman Raghav, a notorious serial killer, suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and could not grasp the gravity or illegality of his crimes. This raises the need for specific legal provisions in Indian law enforcement to address and map the psychological patterns that could lead to a disturbed individual becoming a serial killer. With the National Crime Bureau reporting that 14.5% of the Indian population suffering from some type of mental disorder, this is a dire reality. Another aspect that is seldom discussed in this context is the insane numbers of crimes committed against animals in our country. From rapes of cows to maiming dogs, and how civil society and the law doesn’t take these abhorrent crimes against voiceless animals to task- makes the potential number of serial killers hidden in plain sight harder to envisage.

Psychology and law are closely intertwined, with the mental state of the offender playing a key role in judicial decisions. While legal psychology is not widely explored in India, it is essential to develop this field to both rehabilitate mentally ill offenders and ensure that justice is served in a fair and nuanced manner.

Further, media’s sensationalization of serial homicide leads to glorification and subsequent ‘copy-cat crimes”. According to writer-broadcaster Sanjeev Verma in an article for The Hindu Business Line, true crime dramas consistently rank among the top 10 most-watched shows on Indian OTT platforms.

This prompts the question- as gore and true crime gain popularity, mental health statistics in India show a downward spiral and society changes rapidly, is there something India can do to make sure we do not rise in the ranks of countries notorious for their serial killer populations?

In the article “The Serial Killers Phenomena” by Priyanka Pellon and Simranjit Kaur Gill, published in the International Journal of Law, several critical measures are suggested to address the issue of serial killings.

Firstly, strengthening law enforcement through increased funding and the establishment of dedicated task forces can enhance investigative capacities. Improving intelligence and profiling techniques will enable law enforcement to identify patterns and behavioral traits associated with serial killers. Community engagement is vital, encouraging public participation and fostering trust between communities and law enforcement to facilitate information sharing.

Additionally, enhancing forensic capabilities and investing in mental health services for early intervention can prevent violent tendencies from escalating. As per the Indian Journal of Psychiatry, India has only 0.75 psychiatrists per 100,000 people, far below the WHO recommendation of 3 per 100,000, exposing a severe human resource deficit in mental healthcare.

Lastly, cooperation among law enforcement agencies across state-lines and national borders is essential to track serial killers operating across borders. By implementing these strategies, India can work towards preventing a rise in its serial killer population. India is severely underpoliced- with a 21% vacancy in state police roles across India. The shortage of personnel forces existing officers to work 16–18 hours a day, leading to stress, inefficiency, and compromised policing. Also a recent survey showcased that the majority of the police personnel had high and very high levels of stress (83.8%), affecting performance and mental health.

All said and done, we come back to our original question- do developed nations have more serial killers than India? The answer, my friends, is that we don’t know.. and we can’t tell for sure.

The more pressing question we should ask ourselves is- How do different societies approach the understanding, reporting, investigation & trials of such crimes?

And finally- will we ever have the legal infrastructure to find an answer?