States are obliged to stop lynch mobs: SC

Says lynching can’t be allowed whether or not there’s specific legislation on it

NEW DELHI: States are under obligation to prevent lynchings and mob violence and such incidents cannot happen by the remotest chance, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday, while hearing a bunch of petitions on attacks by self-styled cow vigilantes, but also against the backdrop of a recent spate of mob attacks in the country.

On Sunday, five people were lynched in Dhule, Maharashtra, on suspicion of being child-lifters.

“Whether there is a law or not [against lynching], nobody should be allowed to take law into their hands,” said a bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra. The court reserved orders on petitions filed last year in the wake of a rise in violence by cow vigilantes.

As many as 22 people have been reportedly beaten to death in different parts of the country since the first week of May following rumours, mostly propagated on social media and messaging platforms, that peddle fear of outsiders kidnapping children. Police and government warnings to people not to believe in such messages have gone unheeded; indeed, in Tripura, a mob lynched a person hired by the government to dispel such rumours.

The first incident was reported from Tamil Nadu in the first week of May followed by a few from Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. In June, two persons, including a Mumbai-based sound engineer, were beaten to death in Assam. Then came Dhule.

CJI Dipak Misra said an elaborate judgment is required to be passed to prevent incidents of mob lynching. “States are under obligation and the courts also have to see that they are prevented,” Justice Misra said.

The bench clarified that the court would not go into the motives behind such incidents as they were all acts of mob crime. The court also indicated that its judgment will provide for compensation for the victims of such crime and refused to recognise religion, sex, caste or creed as the criteria for compensation. The clarification was perhaps necessitated by the excuse often trotted out to explain mob behaviour: that the victim “deserved it”.

“A victim of crime is a victim. Compensation will be determined on the basis of injury suffered — whether it’s simple, rigorous or death. A victim is someone who lives under constant fear,” the CJI said.

The court decided to write a detailed verdict after the central government said a scheme or a statutory framework to control incidents of lynching was not required.