Occurrences of crowd lynching the nation over are on the ascent. Many individuals have lost their lives in the thoughtless instances of crowd lynching in the course of the most recent four years. In spite of guarantees and a few cases of legal censures, nothing has been done on the ground to adjust the circumstance till now.
Initially just Muslims were focuses of the horde lynching. They were the primary focus of the composed packs of alleged bovine vigilantes or gau rakshaks, who were given a free deliver a great part of the North India. The danger of the gau rakhshaks developed so much that they began focusing on the dairy cattle merchants and even blameless Muslim men in the NCR locale, whipping them and afterward murdering them on the spot. That there was a law of land and discipline for criminal acts against blameless individuals has been totally lost on their brains because of the secret state bolster they have been getting. This secretive and clear help has encouraged the lynch horde to such a degree, to the point that they have begun trusting that the police will bolster them in embraced the errand. What is amazing the most is that the occurrences of horde lynching are occurring with no indications of backing off in states where the Bharatiya Janata Party rules. From Rajasthan to Jharkhan, Uttar Pradesh, and the recently vanquished saffron trophy in Tripura, the episodes of crowd lynching have spiraled. Tripura, where there was no instance of horde lynching amid the long Left principle, the entry of the BJP government has proclaimed another period of lynch crowds going crazy. To rub salt on the injuries of the people in question, much of the time of crowd lynching, FIRs are held up against the people in question and the culprits let off. There is no denying that a cognizant exertion has been made to encourage gau rakshaks. Just fourteen days prior, a Union pastor snatched features for getting photos clicked with eight men, who were indicted for killing a Muslim meat dealer in Jharkhand, and inviting them at his home.
Then Dalits
When the menace of mob lynching began, only Muslims were on the radar of the lynch mobs. But as the freedom to perpetrate the criminal acts were felt by hoodlums and the rule of law looked weaker than ever before, others too started facing the music of the gau rakshaks and the lynch mobs. Dalits are the second most common targets of the lynch mobs and the cow vigilantes. A number of Dalits have been subjected to mob lynching over the last four years. Rama Singrahiya, 42, was beaten to death using clubs and axes when he was sowing castor seeds on a plot in the village, located 30 km away from Porbandar. He died a day later. The mob was allegedly led by village sarpanch Harbham Karavadra, who is on the run, police said. According to the police, the Mer community members claim the plot where Rama was farming is gauchar (pastoral) land, meant for cattle grazing. As per the FIR, two men hired by Rama to help him sow the seeds were also beaten up. A number of Dalits have faced the lynch mob fury over the past few years, and the cases are only on the rise.
And then everyone was a target The lynching is no longer confined against Muslims. It is becoming endemic in nature as the fear of law recedes in the minds of the lynch mobs. The rising incidents of mob lynching on mere suspicion of child lifting show that the malaise is becoming deep rooted with complete disregard for the law of land. An IndiaSpend report says this year alone at least 24 people have been killed in such mob attacks. The report goes on to add that this is more than 4.5 times rise in attacks and 1.6 times rise in deaths of this kind over 2017, when nine persons were killed in eight separate attacks. An IndiaSpend report says, “Between January 1, 2017, and July 5, 2018, 33 persons have been killed and at least 99 injured in 69 reported cases. In the first six days of July alone, there have been nine cases of mob violence over child lifting rumours and five deaths, which amounts to more than one attack recorded every day...In all cases, the victims were assaulted on mere suspicion and no evidence of child lifting was found later. So far, police across states have arrested at least 181 persons in connection with 21 cases, according to information from the news reports”.
Government a mute spectator
Instead of taking action against the perpetrators to stop the menace, the covert support is helping them become all the more aggressive across the Gangetic plains and beyond. There is no denying that the state machinery like police and investigation departments have been outright biased in providing justice to the victims of lynching and hate crimes. Earlier this year a group of 67 prominent retired officials belonging to the country’s elite civil service cadres wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking him to take tough measure against the increasing instances of mob lynching. “We seek now and without delay a clear response from the Honourable Prime Minister and his government on these issues”, they said. The retired officials demanded “immediate and firm action against the perpetrators of such hate crimes against minorities in this country...These recent incidents undermine our Constitutional values and weaken the rule of law”. In July this year a Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra called the incidents of mob-lynching in the country as “horrendous acts of mobocracy” and asked the Parliament to draft new law to control the incidents of mob lynching across the country. The apex court bench headed by the Chief Justice also ordered the police to register FIRs under Section 153A of the IPC against those who are found guilty in such cases.
