Mob lynching : Will it ever end in India?

Rig Veda, one of the world’s oldest and greatest manuscripts, gives significance to the concept of harmony between men. However, it is a saddening fact that the country to which such manuscripts belong involves in the hate crime of mob lynching and uses religion etc., as a justification for it. It is a serious crime & violation of human rights. Mob lynching is believed to be a violation of Sanatan Dharma & mostly humanity. 

What is mob lynching?

Lynching is not defined as a hate crime under the substantial criminal code of India, the Indian Penal Code. Even a few years back, NCRB collected data on mob lynching cases, but it was inaccurate and unreliable. But suddenly, what happened that it came to the limelight. 

Why in news? 

Recently, the Special Court for SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, Mannarkkad, convicted 14 accused persons in the Madhu Lynching Case, where Madhu’s death was caused by lynching in 2018. She was a mentally challenged tribal youth who was killed due to a mere suspicion of theft of rice, and spices from shops in Kerala. The Kerala Court gave a sentence to 13 out of the 14 convicted persons to rigorous imprisonment for 7 years under Section 304 Part II (Punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) read with Section 149 (Every member of unlawful assembly guilty of an offence committed in prosecution of common object) of the IPC.

Types of Mob-lynching

Mob-Lynching can be classified into five types. They are:

• Communal based

Unfortunately, many mob lynching incidents happen in India, often based on communal or religious differences, most of these are related beef incidents. Here are a few examples:

1. Pehlu Khan lynching: In 2017, Pehlu Khan, a dairy farmer from Haryana, was lynched by a mob in Alwar, Rajasthan, on suspicion of smuggling cows for slaughter. 
2. Akhlaq lynching: In 2015, Mohammad Akhlaq, a Muslim resident of Dadri, Uttar Pradesh, was beaten to death by a mob on suspicion of storing beef in his house. The incident led to widespread outrage and condemnation.
3. Tabrez Ansari lynching: In 2019, Tabrez Ansari, a Muslim man from Jharkhand, was beaten to death by a mob on suspicion of theft. Video footage of the incident showed Ansari being tied & beaten to death.
4. Palghar lynching: In 2020, two sadhus and their driver were lynched by a mob in Palghar, Maharashtra, on suspicion of being child kidnappers. The incident got widespread, with some groups claiming that it was communal in nature.

• Witchcraft

Many of us have heard about several incidents wherein women are burnt alive by a mob due to the suspicion of being related to witchcraft. Unfortunately, mob lynching incidents in India have also been reported because of superstition and beliefs related to witchcraft. Here are a few examples.

1. Assam lynching: In 2018, two men were lynched by a mob in Karbi Anglong district of Assam on suspicion of being witches. Nilotpal Das and Abhijeet Nath, were the victims visiting a popular tourist spot when the mob attacked them.
2. Jharkhand lynching: In 2019, a woman was lynched by a mob in Jharkhand on suspicion of practicing witchcraft. The victim, identified as Suman Devi, was beaten to death and the mob later burned her body.
3. Odisha lynching: In 2021, a man was lynched by a mob in Odisha on suspicion of practicing black magic. The victim, identified as Ganeshwar Behera, was beaten to death by a group of villagers.

• Honour killing

Mob lynching incidents due to honor killing are a serious concern in India, particularly in some communities. It is a barbaric practice where individuals, usually women, are killed by family members or members of the community for allegedly bringing shame to their family or community. For ex: marrying a man who is below her status. Here are a few examples of such instances.

1. Tamil Nadu lynching: In 2016, a young couple was beaten to death by a mob in Tamil Nadu on suspicion of eloping. The couple, who belonged to different castes, was in an unacceptable relationship to the family.
2. Haryana lynching: In 2018, a man was beaten to death by a mob in Haryana on suspicion of eloping with a woman from another caste. The incident took place in a village in Mahendergarh district.
3. Bihar lynching: In 2020, a man was beaten to death by a mob in Bhojpur district of Bihar on suspicion of having an affair with a married woman. 

• Bovine-related mob lynching

Bovine-related mob lynching incidents, also known as cow vigilantism, is considered the main cause of mob lynching in India. These incidents involve mobs attacking individuals or groups of people on suspicion of cow slaughter, transportation, or consumption. Here are a few examples of such incidents:

1. Alwar lynching: In 2018, a man named Rakbar Khan was beaten to death by a mob in Alwar, Rajasthan, on suspicion of cow smuggling.
2. Jharkhand lynching: In 2019, a 24-year-old Muslim man named Tabrez Ansari was lynched by a mob, forcing him to chant Hindu slogans in Jharkhand on suspicion of theft. (Also a case of communal violence)
3. Dadri lynching: In 2015, a 52-year-old Muslim man named Mohammad Akhlaq was beaten to death by a mob in Dadri, Uttar Pradesh, on suspicion of storing beef in his house.
4. Una flogging incident: In 2016, four Dalit men were brutally beaten up by a mob in Una, Gujarat, on suspicion of skinning a dead cow. The incident was captured on video.

• Suspicion of Child lifting

In recent years, there have been several incidents of mob lynching in India due to the suspicion of child lifting. These incidents are as follows:

1. Jharkhand lynching: In 2019, a man named Tabrez Ansari was lynched by a mob in Jharkhand on suspicion of being a child lifter. 
2. Maharashtra lynching: In 2018, five people were lynched by a mob in Dhule, Maharashtra, on suspicion of being child lifters. The victims were travelling in a van and were attacked by a mob when they stopped seeking directions.
3. Assam lynching: In 2018, two men were lynched by a mob in Assam on suspicion of being child lifters. The incident took place in the Karbi Anglong district of the state.
4. Tamil Nadu lynching: In 2018, a man was beaten to death by a mob in Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu, on suspicion of being a child lifter. 

• Theft cases

Mob lynching incidents related to theft are a serious issue in India. These incidents involve mobs attacking individuals suspected of theft. Few examples of theft-related mob lynching cases are:

1. Nagaland lynching: In 2018, a man suspected of theft was beaten to death by a mob in Nagaland. The incident raised several protests.
2. Telangana lynching: In 2019, two men in the Nizamabad district of the state were lynched by a mob in Telangana on suspicion of being thieves. 
3. Jharkhand lynching: In 2017, a man was beaten to death by a mob in Chatra district of Jharkhand on suspicion of stealing a motorcycle. 
4. Rajasthan lynching: In 2019, a man was lynched by a mob in the Alwar district of Rajasthan on suspicion of stealing cattle. 

Causes of mob lynching

1. Intolerance: People are intolerant in accepting the law and try to punish the alleged person assuming the act to be immoral.
2. Biases: Mob lynching is said to be rising because of the biases or prejudices among various castes, class & religions. 
3. Rise of Cow Vigilante: It is one of the major reasons that motivates the growing rise in mob lynching cases.
4. Lack of Speedy Justice: Inefficient working of justice is also one of the prime reasons why people take law into their own hands without fearing of consequences.
5. Inefficiency of Police Administration: Police officers play a significant role in protecting person’s life & maintaining harmony, but due to police’ ineffective investigation procedure, this hate crime is in the rise.

Supreme Court’s Stand on mob lynching

1. The state governments must designate a senior police officer in each district for taking measures to prevent mob lynching incidents.
2. The state governments must immediately identify districts, sub-divisions & villages where mob lynching and mob violence have been reported in the past.
3. Nodal officers must bring to the notice of the Director General of Police (DGP) any inter-district co-ordination issues for deciding a strategy to tackle lynching problems.
4. Duty of every police officer to cause a mob to disperse that seems to tend to cause violence, in their opinion.
5. Both the central & state governments must broadcast on radio, television & other social media platforms including the official websites that lynching and mob violence of any kind will invite serious consequence under the law.
6. Prevention of the dissemination of irresponsible and explosive messages, videos etc. on several social media platforms that have a tendency to incite mob violence & to register FIR under the law against those persons who disseminate such messages.
7. State governments must prepare a lynching/mob violence victim compensation scheme.
8. To ensure that harassment of the family members of the victims in future does not take place.
9. If a police officer or an officer of the district administration fails to perform his/ her duty, the same will be said to be an act of deliberate negligence for which an appropriate action must be taken against him/her.
10. Hence, SC in 2018 described lynching as a “horrendous act of mobocracy” and laid down guidelines for the both Centre & state govts. to frame laws particularly to deal with lynching.

How to prevent mob lynching?

• Designated Fast Track Courts: States need to set up a designated fast track court in every district to deal exclusively with mob lynching cases.
• Special Task Force: The court had even pleaded for the setting up of a special task force with the aim of attaining intelligence reports about the people engaged in spreading hate speeches, provocative statements & fake news that could result in mob lynchings.
• Victim Compensation Schemes: Directions were also issued to establish victim compensation schemes for the relief & rehabilitation of victims. In 2019 the SC issued notices to the Centre and many states asking them to submit the steps they took towards implementing measures.
• Presently, there are three states Manipur, West Bengal & Rajasthan, that have enacted laws against mob lynching.

Which state assembly has passed a bill to stop mob violence and lynching?

In compliance with the 2018 SC guidelines, the Manipur government also came up first with its law against lynching in 2018. The Manipur Law defined mob lynchings as “any act or series of acts of violence or aiding, abetting such act/acts thereof, whether spontaneous or planned, by a mob on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth, language, dietary practices, sexual orientation, political affiliation, ethnicity or any other related grounds.”

Then there was Jharkhand. The Jharkhand Assembly has passed the Prevention of Mob Violence and Mob Lynching Bill, 2021.

Punishments for mob lynching

Generally, the punishment for mob lynching includes:

1. Life Imprisonment
2. For the crime done or likely to cause the death of a person, the defendant can be sentenced to 10 years in prison and fine.

• Section 325 of the IPC provides the penalty for causing serious bodily harm to another person willfully. Under this section, a person who causes serious harm voluntarily, except in the case of provocation (as defined in section 335), is likely to be punished by imprisonment for a term of up to seven years and a fine.
• Section 120 B of the Indian Penal Code describes the penalties for parties who conspire to commit a crime together. It specifies that:

a. If the offender conspires for an offence punishable by life imprisonment, death, or a sentence of two years or more in prison, the offender will be punished in the same way as if the offender abets the offender while committing the offence.

b.  If the offender conspires to commit a crime that is not punishable by death, life imprisonment, or a sentence of more than two years in prison, the offender faces up to six months in prison, a fine, or both if the crime is not punishable by death, life imprisonment, or a sentence of more than two years in prison.

Conclusion

Hence, it is evident that when one community’s beliefs about an issue disagree with the beliefs of the other community, then hate crime such as mob lynching occurs as a result of the conflict. Many states in India such as Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Gujarat, Karnataka, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh have the largest number of cow-related mob attacks, so this type of mob lynching is the most common in India. We can presume that let’s these cases mentioned in the article be the end of mob- lynching, with no new cases popping up ever again.