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MOB LYNCHING IN INDIA - UPCOMING CHALLENGES

BEFORE LEGISLATURE: A CRITICALLY STUDY

A Thesis Submitted in Fulfilment of the Requirement for the


Award of Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
in

Law

Submitted By
Meenu Yadav

Under the Supervision of


Dr. Rituja Sharma
Associate Professor
Department of Legal Studies
Banasthali Vidyapith
Rajasthan

FACULTY OF LAW
BANASTHALI VIDYAPITH
(RAJASTHAN, INDIA)
2021

i
Letter of Declaration by the Research Scholar

This is to certify that the thesis entitled ‘MOB LYNCHING IN INDIA – UPCOMING
CHALLENGES BEFORE LEGISLATURE: A CRITICALLY STUDY’, submitted by me to
Banasthali Vidyapith, for the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy is a bonafide record of
research work carried out by me under the supervision of Dr. Rituja Sharma. The contents of
this thesis, in full or in parts, have not been submitted to any other Institute or University for the
award of any degree or diploma. I declare that the work is original in nature.

Place: Banasthali Vidyapith

Date: (Meenu Yadav)

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Certificate by the Research Supervisor

This is to certify that the research work titled, ‘MOB LYNCHING IN INDIA – UPCOMING
CHALLENGES BEFORE LEGISLATURE: A CRITICALLY STUDY’, submitted to
Banasthali Vidyapith, Rajasthan, in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the award of the
Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Law is a record of original research work done by Meenu
Yadav under my supervision and guidance and the thesis has not formed the basis for the award
of any Degree/ Diploma/ Associateship/ Fellowship or similar title to any candidate of any
university.

This is also to certify that the thesis has passed the non-plagiarism test on the Turnitin software
licensed to Banasthali Vidyapith.

Date: (Dr. Rituja Sharma)

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Acknowledgments

“Debts can be certainly repaid, but co-operation extended and the guidance can never be repaid.”
This formal piece of acknowledgement may not be sufficient to express the feeling of gratitude
& affection for those who were associated with this research and without whose cooperation &
guidance this research could not have been conducted properly.

Above all, the researcher is indeed indebted to Bhagwan Krishna ji who imparted health and
emotional strength to undertake the doctoral program and finally complete the thesis. The
researcher obligates to herself to acquire, refine, and transfer more knowledge to the Almighty’s
creatures in return for what he has gifted her.

Sincere thanks to Late Prof. Aditya Shastri, the Hon’ble Vice Chancellor, Banasthali Vidyapith
for his kind acceptance of the application and permitting me to enrol into the doctoral program.
The researcher also expresses her gratitude towards the Vice Chancellor of Banasthali Vidyapith,
Prof. Ina Shastri.

The researcher would like to express her thankfulness to Dr. Rituja Sharma, Associate
Professor Law, Banasthali Vidyapith for his guidance and support at every step of this research.
Thank you so much ma’am for your constant encouragement, support, patience and motivation
throughout the research. You will continue to be a great influence on me. My success is your
blessing.

The researcher is grateful to Dr. Anil Kumar Verma, Assistant Professor, Indira Gandhi
University, Meerpur, Rewari, for his valuable suggestions regarding data modelling in this
research. A special thanks to Dr. Manish Kumar Assistant Professor, Indira Gandhi University,
Meerpur, Rewari, for his insight and motivation for this research.

The researcher expresses her gratitude to Research Section, Banasthali Vidyapith, for the
generous support in all administrative works. The researcher did not face any administrative
hassle throughout her research.

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The researcher also expresses her gratefulness to the Faculty Members of the department who
have always provided their valuable comments and feedback which have been of immense help
to improve the quality of this research. The long discussions on various aspects of this research
with the faculty members of the department have always been of great help. A special thanks to
the Staff Members of the Library who have always been of great help to provide books and
journals for the research. The researcher also extends her gratitude to the Clerical Staff of the
department who always extended their support during her presence in the department.

The researcher would like to express a special thanks to all her friends who have always
extended their help and support for this research. The long discussions with them have always
helped to polish and refine the work.

The researcher would like to extent her sincere thanks to her husband Mr. Alok Yadav, who
have always encouraged the researcher to pursue her research work.

Last, but not the least, the researcher would like to extend a special thanks to her parents and in-
Laws for their moral and emotional support at various steps of this thesis. They have been a
source of unconditional love always. A word of ‘thanks’ would be too small for their efforts for
me.

(Meenu Yadav)

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

One of the crimes of radicalism was lynching. It grew from the rebellious behaviour, aggression
developed during slavery, brought about by fear, and a chilling terror on the components of the
white citizens, particularly white men. It was thought of as the only social controlling method
any country could ever witness. Competition shed light upon inculcating fear that validated the
action of lynching. This action changed many things in an African American man, like his
outlook, personality, behaviour, and spirit. The foundation of the hierarchy running in the society
was laid on the fear and hate crimes conducted among the people. Such standards of society give
birth to separation among people and discrimination based on caste and race. This research
addresses the historical content of lynching as well as the continuation of trends used for
legitimizing this practice. This research aims to enhance our understanding of how lynching was
legitimized and how it will be penalized and what are upcoming issues and challenges before the
legislature and to provide further insight into racial and social fears which expanded from the
ideologies of slavery and lynching.

The social roots of lynching are investigated, as well as the concept of vigilantism. Racial hatred
is used to reaffirm the connection between slavery and lynching. One of the oldest hate crimes in
all cultures was communal violence against ethnic minorities and Dalit’s. Repression, denial,
racism, rejection, and refusal of recognition by another dominant party are at the centre of the
minority crisis. It is a fact that in India, dominant races have enjoyed a status that is financially
more stable and has more political as well as a social advantage over minorities and Dalits since
the post-independence period. The rights of minorities and oppressed groups in our country are
protected by our Constitution. We are concerned about the recent surge in mob activity and
lynchings. It demonstrates the ineffectiveness of constitutional machinery, which is critical to the
realization of the rights of marginalized groups and minorities.

The example of the largest democracy on the globe is showcased by India. The democratic
system of our nation is the result of the principle of the ‘Rule of law.’ The secular and
democratic system aspires to establish a classless social order. Our democracy necessitates that
we respect and cultivate determined discipline, positive propriety, regular true orderliness, and
optimistic authority via consistent affirmations, which is the most crucial foundation of good
government. However, a rising number of mob attacks are increasingly becoming a routine
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hazard in India, posing a social and political problem. According to a recent media article,
lynching and atrocities against Dalits and minorities are on the rise in India today, according to
an analysis of mob lynching. As per the report up to June 2017, a total of 20 cow-terror attacks
were reported and it has been found that a total of 32 Indians have been killed by a mob over the
ten years in 73 incidents and 134 people were injured in these mob attacks. Rumors were the
foundation of these attacks, with 51 percent of violence based on bovine concerns between 2010
and 2017, and a total of 96 incidents recorded after July 2011.

Lynching is described by the Oxford Dictionary as "murder or killing by a group of people


without a proved crime and trial by law courts, particularly by hanging." Several incidents,
including Allimuddin Ansari,Pehlu Khan, and Junaid Khan have been illuminated this year, of
crowds crashing on individuals and violently murdering them in the name of defending the holy
cow. Citizens from all over the world banded together and marched through the streets this year,
perhaps for the first time, to protest mob shootings. In some cases, the criminal hearings have
lasted almost a decade, and in others, years have passed and the police have yet to file a charge
sheet. There are also cases where the murder suspect has been released on parole.

The research aims to figure out how widespread mob lynching is and how it varies from other
forms of lynching. To investigate the causes that contribute to mob lynching, such as crime,
influence, racism, and male and female quality of life. To evaluate the variations between the
factors that lead to mob lynching in rural and urban areas. Even, to learn about future problems
and obstacles that the legislatures will face. As the miserable threat of lynching casts, a
petrifying shadow over big strips of the country, directions to take steps to avert what is defined
as “horrendous acts of mobocracy” can only be greeted.

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CONTENTS

Chapter - I Introduction 1 - 25

1.1 Introduction ……………………………………………………………. 01 - 10


1.2 Meaning and Definitions ……………………………............................. 11 - 13
1.3 Nature of Lynching ……………………………………………………. 13 - 14
1.4 Social Descriptions ……………………………………………………. 14
1.5 Literature Review ……………………………………………………… 14 - 21
(i) Indian Context
(ii) Foreign Context
1.6 Statement of Problem …………………………………………………. 21 - 22
1.7 Objective of the Study …………………………………………………. 22
1.8 Research Hypothesis …………………………………………………… 22
1.9 Research Methodology ………………………………………………… 23
(i) Sources of Doctrinal Research
a. Primary Sources
b. Secondary Sources
(ii) Non-Doctrinal Research
1.10 Chapterisation ……………………………………………………… 23 - 25

Chapter - II Historical Background, Reasons and Growth of Mob Lynching 26 - 55

2.1 Introduction.............................................................................................. 26 - 27
2.2 International Perspective ……………………………………………….. 27 - 33
2.3 Indian Perspective ……………………………………………………… 33 - 49
(i) Lynching in Ancient India ………………………………… 34 - 36
(ii) Before Independence ……………………………………… 36 - 37
(iii) After Independence ……………………………………….. 38 - 41
(iv) In Recent Time ……………………………………………. 41 - 49

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2.4 Impacts Of Mob Lynching …………………………………………….. 49 - 50
(i) States Perspective
(ii) Societal Perspective
(iii) Economic Perspective
2.5 Reasons Responsible For Mob Lynching ………………………………. 50 - 55

Chapter – III Existing Law in India covering cases of Mob Lynching 56 - 80

3.1 Introduction.............................................................................................. 56
3.2 Constitution’s Protective Provisions……………………………………. 56 - 60
3.3 Laws Against Mob Violence in The Indian Penal Code, 1860 ……… 60 - 64
3.4 Under The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 ………………………… 64 - 67
3.5 Under Indian Evidence Act, 1872………………………………………. 67
3.6 The Protection from Lynching Bill, 2017………………………………. 67 - 68
3.7 Actions taken by India's State Governments…………………………… 68 - 80
(i) State of Gujarat…………………………………………………. 68 - 69
(ii) The Manipur Protection from Mob Violence Ordinance, 2018… 69 - 72
(iii) The Rajasthan Protection from Lynching Bill, 2019…………… 72 - 75
(iv) Uttar Pradesh Combating of Mob Lynching Bill, 2019………… 75 - 78
(v) The West Bengal Prevention of Lynching Bill, 2019…………… 78 - 80

Chapter – IV Comparative Overview of the Law Dealing with Mob Lynching in India and
other Countries 81-104
4.1 Introduction ………………………………………………………… 81 - 82
4.2 International Perspective……………………………………............. 82-103

(i) Human Rights Act, 1998................................................................ 82 - 86


(ii) United State................................................................................... 86 - 91
(iii) The Anti-Lynching Law of 1928 in Virginia.................................. 91 - 92
(iv) Nigerians Hostile to Lynching Bill 2009………………………… 92 - 93
(v) Anti-Jungle Justice and other Related Offences Bill, 2015……… 93 - 99

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(vi) South Africa prevention and Combating of
Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill, 2018 ………………………… 99-103
4.3 Indian Perspective ……………………………………………………. 104

Chapter - V Challenges and Issues before the Indian Legislature 105 - 123

5.1 Legislature ……………………………………………………… 105

5.2 Legislature and Law Making ……………………………………. 105 - 106


5.3 Need of particular and specific law related to Mob Lynching…… 106 - 108
5.4 International Provisions………………………………………….. 108 - 110
5.5 National Provisions ……………………………………. ……… 110 - 115
5.6 Issues and challenges under the current regime………………… 115 - 116
5.7 Major issues and restrictions faced by the Legislature ………… 116 - 123

Chapter – VI Mob Lynching and Judicial Approach 124 - 146


6.1 Introduction............................................................................................. 124 - 125

6.2 Judicial independence directed by the Supreme Court............................ 125 - 126

6.3 High Courts.............................................................................................. 126

6.4 Writ Jurisdiction………………………………………………………… 126 - 128

6.5 Judicial Review…………………………………………………………. 128 - 129

6.6 Public Interest Litigation (PIL)…………………………………………. 129 - 130

6.7 Verdict's of the Supreme Court on Right to Life ………………………. 130 - 135

6.8 Supreme Court’s view on Mob Lynching……………………………… 135 - 137

6.9 Landmark Judgement of the Supreme Court ……………………........... 137 - 142


6.10 Measures Suggested by the Apex Court…………………………… 142 - 146

Chapter – VII Data Analysis 147 - 169

7.1 Introduction.............................................................................................. 147 - 148

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7.2 Main Objective and Purpose……………………………………………. 148 - 150

7.3 Questionnaires ………………………………………………………….. 151 – 168

Chapter-VIII Conclusion and Suggestions 169 - 185

Bibliography ……………………………………………………………………. 186 - 195

Annexure – I

THE PROTECTION FROM LYNCHING BILL, 2017

Annexure – II

RAJASTHAN ANTI LYNCHING BILL 2019

Questionnaires

Publication.

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List of Research Publications and Paper Presentations

Publications: 2

Paper Presented at Conference: 2

Working Papers: 1

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ABBRIVATIONS

 ABA American Bar Association


 AIR All India Reports
 ALL ER All English Reports
 A.L.R American Law Reports
 A.L.R 2nd American Law Reports 2nd series
 A.L.R 3d American Law Reports 3rd series
 A.L.R 4th American Law Reports 4th series
 A.L.R Fed American Law Reports Federal
 CBI Central Bureau of Investigation
 CIF Coming into Force
 C.F.R Code of Federal Regulations
 CJI Chief Justice of India
 CL Common Law
 CLSA Canon Law Society of America
 Const. The Constitution of India
 Cr.PC Criminal Procedure Code
 CSOs Civil Society Organisations
 e.g for Example
 FBI Federal Bureau of Investigation
 FCRA Foreign Contributions Regulation Act
 FIR First Information Report
 GRD Gau Raksha Dal
 GRA GauRakshaAyog
 HYV Hindu Yuva Vahini
 i.e that is
 IPC Indian Penal Code
 IG Inspector General
 JNU Jawaharlal Nehru University

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 MASUKA Manav Suraksha Kannon
 NAAL National Afro American League
 NACML National Campaign Against Mob Lynching
 NAACP National Association for the Advancement of Coloured
People
 NGO Non-Government Organisation
 LEd Lawyer Edition
 No. Number
 Ors. Others
 PL Public Law
 POSCO Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences Act
 SCC Supreme Court Cases
 S.C.R Supreme Court Records
 SHO Station House Officer
 SMJ Subject Matter of Jurisdiction
 SP Superintendent of Police
 V Versus

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CASE LAWS

A.D.M Jabalpur V. Shiva Kant Shukla 133

A.K. Gopalan V. State of Madras 132

Arumugam Servai V. Union of India 114, 146

Cardamom Mktg. Corp. V. State of Kerala 02

Destruction of Public and Private Properties v. Govt. of A.P 115

Dr. Anindya Gopal Mitra V. State 65

Gujarat State and Others V. National Human Rights Commission 59

HL V. UK 84

Hussainara Khatoon V. State of Bihar 135, 137

Indira Nehru V. Raj Narian (Election Case) 57

Johnson V. U.K 84

Khatri V. State of Bihar 135

Keshvanda Bharti V. State of Kerala 129

Kodungallur Film Society V. Union of India and Ors 138

Kolanis V. U.K 85

Krishna Sradha V. State of Andhra Pradesh 116

Krishnamoorthy V. Sivakumar and others 171

Madhav Hayawandan Rao Haskot V. State of Maharashtra 134

Maneka Gandhi V. Union of India 133

Mohammad Haroon and others V. Union of India 113

Munn V. State of Illinois US 131

National Human Rights Commission V. State of Gujarat and others 01

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Olga Tellis V. Bombay Municipal Corporation 134

Parmananda Katara V. Union of India 134

Prakash Singh V. Union of India 112

Pretty V. United Kingdom 84

Price V. State of U. K 84

R. G. V. MHRT 85

R.C. Cooper V. Union of India 132

Ram Singh V. Delhi Administration 132

Re: Destruction of Public and Private Properties 139

Rudal Shah V. State of Bihar 135

S. Krishna Shradha V. State of A.P 02, 120

Sambhu Nath Sarkar V. State of West Bengal 132

Shreya Singhal V. Union of India 60, 113

Smith and Grady V.U.K 85

Sri Ram Manohar Lohiya V. State of Bihar & others 60, 111

State of AP V. Destruction of Public and Private Properties 138

State of Orissa V. Nilabati Behera 135

State of Rajasthan V. Pratap Singh 57

State of Maharashtra V. Manubhai Pragaji Vashi & ors. 134

Tehseen S. Poonawalla V. Union of India and Other 69, 72, 137, 139, 141,
142, 170

Vincent V. France 84

X, Y and others V. The Netherlands 85

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CHAPTER - I

INTRODUCTION

1.1 INTRODUCTION

“The rule of law can prevail only if people and institutions respect and follow the laws.” In every
democratic country the backbone of democracy is the rule of law. The same is guaranteed by the
Indian Constitution under Article 21 as it provides protection to the life and liberty of every
individual and such person cannot be deprived of except procedure established by law. Now it is
very old concept that kings never do wrongs but today everyone is equal in the eyes of law
whether king or an ordinary person. Everyone including government or its officials is supposed
to follow the ordinary law of the land.
Former President of USA Abraham Lincon defined the term democracy as “the government of
people, by the people and for the people” the same objective is provided in the preamble of our
Constitution. The very objective of the Constitution is to establish the common brotherhood and
harmony in the people of India. Every innocent one shall be protected from the offenders and
wrong doers shall be punished not by themselves but according to the procedure established by
law.
With all these security measures available to every individual of India, the incidents of mob
lynching have increased steadily. The mob tends to take law in his hands just on some doubts,
and blurs the so-called "justice".

In the case of ‘National Human Rights Commission V. State of Gujarat and others 1, Hon’ble the
Apex Court observed as under’:
“Communal harmony is the hallmark of a democracy. No religion teaches hatred. If in the name
of religion, people are killed, that is essentially a slur and blot on the society governed by the rule
of law. The Constitution of India, in its Preamble refers to secularism. Religious fanatics really
do not belong to any religion, they are no better than terrorists who kill innocent people for no
rhyme or reason in a society which as noted above is governed by the rule of law.”

1
(2009) 6 SCC 342

1
Hon’ble Justice of Supreme Court Dipak Mishra, in the case of S. Krishna Shradha V. State of
A.P 2., viewed that “A right is conferred on a person by the rule of law and if he seeks a remedy
through the process meant for establishing the rule of law and it is denied to him, it would never
sub serve the cause of real justice.”

Hon’ble Justice of Supreme Court A.K. Sikri in the case of Cardamom Mktg. Corp.V. State of
Kerala 3, observed that: “When we talk of sound and stable system of administration of justice,
all the stakeholders in the said legal system need to be taken care of………..The Rule of Law
reflects a man’s sense of order and justice. There can be no Government without order; there can
be no order without law.” “It is the constitutional responsibility of the government to provide
governance and maintain law and order and the responsibility lies on the state to protect life and
property of the citizens. In this regard the police have the predominant role to play. Basically the
success of the constitution largely depends upon the efficiency and effectiveness of criminal
justice administration”.
For a peaceful society it is necessary that the criminal justice system should be perfectly
administers which is the backbone and need for a successful democracy. “The society should be
made free from crimes so that every citizen of our country can lead a peaceful life and enjoy
their rights. It is only possible through efficient criminal justice administration, which is one of
the cornerstones of good governance. The criminal justice administration must perform its duty
by punishing perpetrators of crime without any delay to inspire confidence and create an attitude
of respect for the rule of law. But unfortunately many a time the police is not ready to register the
FIR. If police registers an FIR, either a very weak case is made out or there are so many flaws in
the case prepared that it cannot stand on the judicial scrutiny of the court and it ultimately helps
the accused in acquittal yet the victim could not get justice. Justice eludes the victims. The
criminal justice administration should maintain balance in the society in order to prevent crime
and deliver justice to the victim”.

Former President Hon’ble Mr. Pranabh Mukherjee viewed on the increasing events of
lynching's, he said on July 1, 2017 that when “mob frenzy becomes so high and irrational,
2
(2017) 4 SCC 516, para 27
3
(2017) 5 SCC 255, para 13

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uncontrollable, people have to pause and reflect” and be proactively vigilant to save the basic
tenets of our country.” The country to stand up against the rising trend of mob lynchings,
stressing that the frenzy needed to be curbed”.
But because of too remote possibilities of punishment the criminals feels free and habitually
violates the rules and regulations established by law and it becomes very common for them to
challenge the law and order “If administration wants to establish the rule of law in the society, it
should prosecute and punish the criminals; otherwise it would be difficult to get any reasonable
rule of law in the country. The government should uphold the rule of law by punishing those who
involved such kinds of incident of lynching in different part of the country. It is necessary that
the government has to from the anti-lynching squad to prevent these kinds of lynching
throughout India. It is also necessary that ‘Anti-lynching law’ should be passed”.

“Mob lynching is violence by a crowd which results in the killing or maiming of a person or
persons charged with or suspected of a crime. Lynching is an extrajudicial punishment to the
accused or suspected person by the crowd or informal group without having any legal authority.
In India, lynching and mob violence generally replicate internal tensions between several racial
communities. As mob lynching is similar to ordinary murder so other criteria are necessary to
define what lynching is. There could be two presumptions regarding lynching. First, there must
be legal evidence of a person’s illegal death. Second, there must be evidence of group
participation in the killing under the strategy of service to justice, race, or tradition”.

There is no place in any civilized society for mob lynching. It cannot be justified the killing of a
person by another person or by mob whether the grounds are reasonable or not. It amounts to
destroy the whole system of law and order in the society when an incident of lynching takes
place in a civilised society. Generally, Lynching is considered as a form of immediate
righteousness action against a crime by the mob even such mob has no authority to do the same
or not guided by law. 4

Lynching and like actions of brutality have no sanction of law hence are considered as inhumane
and illegal. If a crowd of persons penalizes any individual whom they supposed responsible for a

4
www.jurip.org

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crime and kills him without following any legal trial is called lynching of that individual. In
another words, lynching is a punishment which is extrajudicial to the suspected or accused
person by the crowd having no legal authority.

In India, mob violence or lynching generally reflect internal disputes between various racial
communities. In 2018 media reports on mob violence reveal that such events of violence and
cruelty on Dalits and minorities are rapidly increasing nowadays. According to media reports up
to June 2016, a total of 30 cow-terror attacks was reported on mob lynching, “it has been found
that a total of 45 Indians has been killed by a mob over the seven-year period in 83 incidents and
135 people were injured in these mob attacks. More than half (51%) of these attacks were based
on rumours and 49% of violence cantered on bovine issues over nearly eight years (2010 to
2017) this report explicitly stated that those who were attacked by mobs were Dalits”. 5

Mob - Lynching is an action by group of violent people which takes life of another person
without any authority or legal sanction. It amounts to extrajudicial sentence like public hanging
to take revenge or to teach a lesson to a suspected offender. It is also defined as vigilantism in
which a group of self appointed people takes law in their hands to enforce having no legal
authority.

The word ‘lynch’ originated first time during the American Revolution and phrased as ‘Lynch
Law’ in which punishment is granted without any trial or due process. “The term ‘lynching’ or
‘lynching law’ has been derived its name from the two American citizens known as Charles
Lynch and William Lynch who were from Virginia city. During 1782, Charles Lynch had written
that the ‘Loyalist’ or ‘Tories’ who were supporters of the British side developed Lynching Law
especially for the ‘Negroes’ to deal with them according to their will. It has recently led to a
series of protests and demonstrations (including the “Not in My Name” campaign) in many parts
of the country. A wave of mob lynching was linked to messages that circulated on WhatsApp
and other electronic media groups. The violence has been blamed on rumours of child
kidnappings, spread over these groups, which have led people to attack strangers. Lynching has
been a new tendency in India. We have been observing a number of cases regarding lynching in

5
http:/www.casirj.com

4
India nowadays. Some of the reasons are fair yet some are worthless. In such cases, many
innocents have been brutally tortured and some even lost their lives”. 6

In simple words, mob lynching is a murder totally illegal by an unlawful and angry mob or group
of persons. “Rise of mob lynching in India is observing a high rise in cases relating to violence
amounts to murder. When the people take law into their own hands it becomes dangerous for the
victim who is in threat of their lives. It has been analyzed that the lynching or public disorder rise
up from 8% to over 20%. The agony against this recent mob violence has been overt among a
large section of the citizens. The increase in Lynching incidents in India shows a strange
barbarous behaviour of humans during the 21st century. Lynching involved injury or murder of a
person who is a criminal or accused of a crime against society. One of the strangest reasons for
lynching today is inter cast marriage, cow slaughter, cattle smuggling or beef consuming. Mostly
the victims of Lynching in India are persons belonging to minorities of that particular area such
as Dalits and Muslims”.

In a country where Hindus are in majority and cow is considered as an honored mammal. It can
be a reason of mob violence if slaughter and consumption of beef is found anywhere because it is
considered as a sin and crimes. Although until now, it is not strictly enforced. Being a cheaper
than other animals’ meat, easily available and a rich source of protein the beef of cow is
consumed by Muslims and Dalits as there is no taboo in their religion or community. In recent
times, it is also become a channel of hate and violence especially against Muslims from the
arisen of cow vigilantes in India. Murder of Junaid Khan in a train commuting in Haryana
province (June, 2017); murder of Alimuddin Ansari by Go-Rakshak-Dal (so-called ‘cow
protector’), in Jharkhand’s busy road (July, 2017); Go-Rakshak-Dal also murdered Pehlu Khan
in a very busy place (May, 2017), in a District of Rajasthan State and there are so many incidents
in other parts of the country with similar happenings took place in recent years. The members of
mob generally are a private gang who participates in dispensing all set righteousness on sufferer
alleged person by such gang with the action of delivering punishment before public openly. In
most of the incidents the attackers use multimedia platform and share the pictures and videos of

6
www.socialsciencejournal.in

5
their heinous crime. One thing which is common among the mob incidents is eating or
possession of beef and cow slaughtering. 7

The act of lynching although affects to individual only and generally single person is targeted
even it has wider impact on entire society whether directly or indirectly. In America at the
earliest of the Ninetieth century mob violence was used so methodically to disempowering
Blacks. IB Wells-Barnett, who was not only a leader of the Anti-Lynching campaign in 1890 but
also attract the attention of the society towards its impact on entire community, humanity, safety
and security of individual, economic threat to the country and he recognized it against the human
being and one of the biggest threat to the American-African relations. Mob lynching also creates
fear in the mind of all American-Africans, to compel surrender and submission before superior
race, and also to underline the limits of black freedom. Collective violence that takes place in an
ostensibly passive time is considered as lynching, further it creates a feeling of loss and fear.
Lynching is quite different we cannot cloth it as a riot or divergence; instead, it makes examples
which mean there is no one who is safe or whose life is uninterrupted. William Oliver has
described it as “Inferior Process” which is a type of bodily cruelty and a branch of “the
systematic stress attack including the entire composite of political, legal, educational, economic,
military, religious, and mass media institutions controlled by Whites” (Oliver1989). In India a
new fear which minorities are facing and are on the target of such violent people i.e. mob
lynches. The ignorance or rejection of the rule of law and self enforcing justice by mob further
prejudice and marginalize the victims, society has to carry on the effects over the generations.
Lynching or collective violence not only affects the life of the victim but also affects the life,
liberty and property of the executor, neighbour and entire society. It also includes injurious
security mechanisms like, “diminish compassion for victims” (2014 Nina Berman), that leads to
intensify brutal behaviours so can mark the persons who are not within the list of group. The
desensitized people, who are usually in groups, by taking the law and order in their own hands
and commit crime against the targeted individuals whomever they select as to their target. 8

Lynching is typically defined as “an illegal and summary execution at the hands of a violent
mob. In the United States, lynching is one of the most horrible chapters in American history, the
terrorism of African American minority groups by White ones. Estimates of the number of
7
http://timesofindia.com/city/delhi/accused-in-junaid-case-has-confessed-police/articleshow/59518467.cms
8
Ibid.

6
African America victims of lynching in the United States during the late 19th and 20th centuries
have ranged from, 2789 to 3,417 (Dray, 2002). Although lynching in the United States has come
to define a certain time in the past and a culture that was less complicated and less educated, the
crime as lynching is in fact timeless. Lynching, like hate crimes, racial cleansing, and genocide,
explicitly represents an illustration of inter-group aggression that occurred within a social context
and like most real-world phenomena. Lynching has generally been explained in terms of the
majority group’s desire to maintain its majority position in their society”. 9

The recently occurred incidents of mob violence are alarms for the Government to the make and
implement a strong law for the protection of innocent human beings. As there is no any special
or particular provision is given in IPC which provides lynching as an offense. Being a secular,
democratic and socialist State, Indian Constitution provides justice and safeguard to all its
citizens although having a mixed culture, different - languages, faith, beliefs and religious
foundations, yet there are possibilities that there could be some contrast among these groups. For
the protection of legal as well as basic rights of individuals, like Right to life and personal liberty
under Art. -21 and Right to fair hearing or trial under Art. -20 & 21 in civil and criminal matters
which are considered as the most important among all rights as these cannot be abolished even
in national emergency i.e. Art. 352. The rule of strict and absolute liability shall be coupled with
lynching incidents and similar provisions to be placed in the IPC to deal accordingly. It is
important for the application and implementation of laws related to anti-lynching in India as soon
as possible because mob lynching offense is increased by day to day in different forms. The
fundamental provision of Art 21 - Right to life and the Preamble of the Indian Constitution also
states its noble objectives which are to be achieved and shall be keep in mind while applying any
policy which are directly or indirectly related to the safety, security and dignity of the citizens of
India. A law must be strict and effective as no one shall have any special privilege to mould the
law according to their wishes or to take it into their own hands. 10

The term Mob Lynching is find place to the mid of eighteenth century in USA, Where more than
200 Anti-lynching bills were introduced to curb this problem in the USA Congress in the
forgoing 150 years but without any success. In North American pioneers lynching was a

9
Abrams, D. (1994) Social Self-regulation. Personality and social psychology Bulletin, 20, 473-483
10
Abrams,D&Hogg, M.A. (2001), Collective identity: Group-membership, and self-conception. In M.B. Brewer &M.Hewstone (eds.),self and
social identity (p.p.147) Malden, M A. Blackwell.

7
common thing among them and in the frontier commonly where no legal institutions were yet
established. Recently the accused of rape, cattle or horse stealing or crimes seemed to be capital
in nature used to be punished with the act of mob lynching and lessen crimes used to be punished
by exile or other lessen punishments. Legal institutions must be duly established so as to there is
no requirement of Pioneer Vigilance Committees to interfere with any legal institution. Lynching
means maiming, killing or unlawfully hanging of a person by the action of a mob. The term
lynching is extracted from the name of Captain W. Lynch of Pittsylvania Company Ltd. (1742-
1820), he used to punish loyal persons to the crown during the American Revolution by using
extra legal proceedings. The most common application of the term lynching was used during the
racial violence in post civil war in the South America.

The Supreme Court while renouncing its verdict on a PIL filed by Mr. Tushar Gandhi (the great-
grandson of Mahatma Gandhi) called mob lynching as "horrendous acts of mobocracy" and
ordered the Central and all State Governments to take "preventive, remedial and punitive
measures" to eradicate it "with iron hands". 11

Today, lynchings become a major issue which is not a problem restricted to the US or India but it
spread all over the world. Quoting this issue many reports of the UN refer to mob lynching cases
from Nigeria, Sudan, Haiti, Yamane, and other states. As per the UN Police reports 2014,
lynching is widespread in Haiti. “The number of known cases of lynching increased from 95 in
2009 to 130 in 2012 in this country. In India, there is no separate data maintained for mob
lynching cases. Reports of lynching have become further, public in current times. Recently,
Nigeria drafted and presented an anti-lynching bill. Some countries have tried to curb lynching
by controlling social media regarding fake news. Malaysia has framed anti-lynching law and in
April 2017 a man became the first person to be convicted for posting fake videos on YouTube.
Three legislators including Indian American citizen Kamala Harris introduced an Anti-Lynching
Bill in the US Senate in July 2017 12. Since 1918 more than 200 anti-lynching bills have been
introduced to Congress, Republican Representative Leoni das Dyer of Missouri had introduced
the first. In the first of its kind Act, the United States Senate passed a resolution in the year 2005
apologizing for not passing anti-lynching law for more than 100 years. The new bill states that at

11
https://www.businesss-standard.com/article/current-affairs/make-law-to-prevent-horrendous-acts-of-mobocracy-sc-govt-on-lynchings-
1180717002591.html
12
Live Law. in, Government, lynching and Rule of law (July 5,2017) available at https://www.livelaw.in/government-governance-lynching-rule-
law

8
least 4,750 people were lynched in the US between 1882 and 1968 and 99 percent of all
perpetrators of lynching escaped punishment. If the US Congress passes the Justice for Victims
of Lynching Act, the crime would punishable by life imprisonment. India has not yet developed
any special mechanism for overcoming crimes like lynching. 13IPC does not mention the word
"lynching". However, S. 223(a) of the CrPC, 1973 talks about the procedure according to which
persons involved in a crime like lynching or similar nature or involved in the same offence can
be tried together if the act done by them all is same. But unfortunately this provision is not
14
sufficient and does not help much in delivering justice in cases of mob lynching”.

A political society group called, the “National Campaign against Mob Lynching” started by
young leaders Jignesh Mewani, Tehseen S. Poonawalla, Kanhaiya and Shehla Rashid prepared a
draft named, Maanav Suraksha Kanoon (MASUKA) in 2016. It was presented in the Council of
States (Rajya Sabha). Lynching is a method of brutality where a mass, under the ploy of
directing the execution of alleged criminals without any procedure or trial in the name of justice,
generally by imposing corporal mutilation and physical torture. 15

As the severe menace of violence casts, a horrifying picture over huge strips of the society,
guidelines from the Supreme Court of India to all state governments and the Central
Governments to adopt necessary and adequate measures to avoid “horrendous acts of
mobocracy” can only be welcomed. Innovative law will work if slits in existing law are what
stop state administrations from acting authoritatively and justly against lynch mobs. The court
has asked Parliament to consider passing a special law on mob lynching. It is essential to protect
citizens and ensure that the “pluralistic social fabric” of the country holds against mob
lynching. 16

Mob Lynching is not only “mobocracy” but a collective hate crime against the human beings.
For Example, “mob violence may be flashed by differences over claims of cow trespassing or
slaughter, or theft of livestock or child kidnapping, or something even as trivial as a seat in an
unreserved train compartment. Whatever the apparent cause, lethal mobs gather to lynch people

13
Ibid.
14
Criminal Procedure Code, 1973
15
Lynching mob violence, https//www.britannica.com/topic/lynching
16
Ibid.

9
of hated characteristics with gratuitous cruelty. India Spend surveyed that 86 percent of persons
killed were Muslim and 8 percent Dalits, in cow-related lynching”. 17

The recent muddle of mob lynchings based on rumours of child kidnapping aimed strangers and
mentally challenged persons. Recently, “India is witnessing from past 20 years an unfamiliar
surge in corruption associated with mob, some times in the name of belief, religion or
kidnapping etc. Although the rapidly increasing in the system of wary against cow slaughter later
in spread to kidnapping and further sorts of misconducts leads to mob violence”.

In 2018,” 28 people across nine Indian states have been lynched in separate incidents, which
have been triggered by rumours spread on social media. Of these, more than 20 people were
victims of mob lynching in the last two months alone. 18 The latest such incident occurred on 15
July 2018 in Karnataka when a software engineer was beaten to death on the suspicion of being a
kidnapper. The earlier incidents have occurred in different parts of the country, from Assam in
the northeast to Maharashtra in western India. The common thread in these gruesome incidents
has been child lifting rumours circulated on social media”.

“Rumours are an age-old phenomenon and have played their part in momentous events. The role
of rumours in the ‘Great Panic’, leading to the French Revolution and the seizing of Bastille on
14 July 1789 is well-documented. So too is the role of rumours in the uprising of 1857 in British
India. In the 18th and 19th centuries, rumours were largely spread by word of mouth. However,
now contemporary know-how is aiding the spread of rumours, leading to unforeseen and often
vicious outcomes. In nearly all the incidents of mob violence, the rumours were circulated by
WhatsApp, a free messaging application owned by Facebook. It is not a coincidence that India is
WhatsApp biggest market worldwide, with more than 200 million users”. 19

17
https//www.thequint.com/quintlab/lynching-in-India
18
Ibid
19
www.socialsciencejournal.in

10
1.2. MEANING AND DEFINITIONS

As per the dictionary meaning, lynch means “to put to death, especially by hanging by mob
action and without legal authority. Mob Lynching means assassination of someone by a mass for
an alleged offence without following any values of jurisprudence or due process of law”. 20

Mob Lynching could be a means to tell a population belonging to minority that the local law of
the land is not sufficient to protect it against the will of majority. Mob violence is a system of
cruelty in which a violent group executes a presumed criminal under the alleged reason of
directing fairness by corporal mutilation or torture and of course without following any
procedure or trial in the self created courts.

The Oxford Dictionary defines the term mob lynching as an action of assassination of an alleged
criminal person by having no legal sanction or without following due process. In olden period,
such types of acts were involving stoning of an individual to award him demise. Sometimes on
mere suspicion or believing on rumour, mob used kill a suspicious offender without considering
any evidence or witnesses. Like rape or murder it is also measured as a heinous offence by and
against the human beings. The crowd filling in as "judge, jury, and killer" would complete their
unconstrained or prearranged demonstration of murdering with total exemption and with no fear
of law. 21

The lexicon significance of Lynch says, "Murder somebody for a supposed offense without a
lawful preliminary.”Lynching" started in mid-eighteenth-century USA. Starting point of
"lynching" is followed to “two individuals named Charles Lynch and William Lynch, who lived
in Virginia in the United States”.

Another definition given by other Dictionaries of Mob Lynching is, “killing of someone by a
mob for an alleged offence without following any principles of law or due process of law”. 22

“The legal definition of Mob lynching, the legal definition of lynching is where three or more
persons who constitute a mob, put someone to death extra-legal without court sanction and
without legal sanction and they do it for the purpose of tradition and whatever their version of

20
www.socialsciencejournal.in
21
Lynch, English Oxford living Dictionary available at https//enoxforddictionaries.com/definition/lynch
22
https://www.vocabulary.com/lynching

11
justice is. 23According to Collins Dictionary, lynching means a group of people who condemn
and punish a person without a fair trial”. 24

Various terms Mob, Lynching, Victim, Offensive Material and Offender has been defined and
provided a certain definition in the proposed draft of Protection from Lynching Act, 2017.
Though the word lynching has not been defined anywhere in the IPC but the proposed Bill has
given specific meaning to this term, according to it lynching means and includes a declared
offence completed by a series of transaction as clearly defined u/s 141,149,302 and 326 of the
IPC. Although the act of mob or any act of lynching has not been mentioned in any statute
including IPC but the transactions or act of series that form part of the offence are defined as an
offence, consequently making the whole act or course punishable accordingly.

(a) ‘lynching’ “will mean any demonstration or arrangement of demonstrations of savagery,


regardless of whether unconstrained or arranged, focused on delivering extra-legal discipline, or
as a demonstration of dissent and brought about by the craving of a horde to authorize upon an
individual or gathering of people any apparent lawful, cultural and social standards/preferences”;

(b) ‘Mob’ “will mean a gathering of at least two people, amassed with an aim of lynching”;

(c) ‘Victim’ “will mean any individual, who has endured physical, mental, mental or money
related damage because of the commission of any offense under this Act, and incorporates their
family members, lawful watchman and legitimate beneficiaries of an expired unfortunate
casualty”.

(d) ‘Offensive material’ will mean “any material that can be sensibly interpreted to have been
made to impel a crowd to lynch an individual and will incorporate material advancing lynching
on the grounds of religion, race, culture or some other ground”. 25

According to Francis Gimke, a researcher, “lynching has no technical meaning. It is used as a


descriptive adjective for ‘Lawless acts’ by persons who choose to violate established law”. 26

23
https://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/mob-lynching.
24
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/mob-lynching.
25
Protection from Lynching Act, 2017
26
Chadbourn, James Harmon. Lynching and the law Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. 1933. Print

12
The definition of Lynching was given by the U.S.A. Congress in 1992. It provided that lynching
is “five or more than five persons in furtherance of common intention without having any
authority of law, to kill or injure any person in the custody of any peace officer, with the purpose
or consequences of depriving such person of due process of law or the equal protection of the
laws”. 27

“The Southern Commission on the study of Lynching in 1933 defined lynching as a number of
people who have come together to murder a person and it is carried out in a public fashion with
“Scores hundreds, and not uncommonly Separates a lynch mob from gang activity because mobs
operate in the public eye to openly ‘defy the law’”. 28

1.3 NATURE OF LYNCHING

“The lynching took various forms, ranging from hangings and shootings administered by small
groups of men in secret, to possess meting out summary justice at the conclusion of a manhunt,
to large public spectacles with broad community participation. The classic public lynching for
which the South became so notorious always involved torture and mutilation and ended in death
for the victim, either by hanging or, increasingly, by being burned alive. The lynching ritual
typically comprised prior sign of the event, the choice of a symbolically noteworthy site, and the
assembly of a large crowd of spectators, including women and children”.

“Mobs typically sought to elicit confessions from their victims and frequently allowed them to
pray before the final act of the drama. Lynches often left the bullet-ridden bodies of hanging
victims on public display as a warning to other potential transgressors. In both hangings and
Burnings, mobs tortured, mutilated, castrated (in the case of males), and even dismembered their
victims. The victim of the alleged crime or a victim's close relative often played a prominent role
in the ritual. A particularly gruesome feature of lynching was the taking of souvenirs in the form
of body pieces, bone fragments salvaged from the ashes, or photographs”.

“The social composition of southern mobs remains obscure. Some have argued that lynch mobs
were composed primarily of lower-class whites, but most scholars agree that the upper class and

27
Dray, Philip, At The Hands of Persons Unknown: The Lynching of black America. New York: The Modern Library, 2002. Print.
28
Id. at 38

13
community leaders at the very least condoned the mob's actions and not uncommonly were
themselves, participants. Police were rarely effective in preventing lynching, even when they
tried, and mob members were almost never identified and prosecuted. Authorities typically
attributed lynching to persons unknown”.

1.4 SOCIAL DESCRIPTIONS

The major objectives of lynching; -

• First is the societal phase: - fighting some societal wrongs.


• Second aspect is Economic.

For instance; - “Upon positively murdering a black farmer or refugee merchant, the land would
be accessible and the marketplace opened for White Americans. The Terror and intimation
produced by lynching can effectively serve as weapons in economic warfare. This motive was
particularly prevalent in the past civil war South in America. Supporters of the Confederacy were
barred from holding a public position of power; they sought to assert themselves through this
economic warfare, which took the form of lynching the newly empowered African
29
Americans”.

1.5 LITERATURE REVIEW

The main objective of the Literature Review is to obtain comprehensible and basic knowledge
consisting of facts, principals, problems, theories and challenges etc. After analysing the present
law on mob violence in India an effort has been made to expand hypothetical and realistic
narrative and research studies on the subject to form the foundation upon which this research
work based and also to show the rational of this research. It is also important to point out that no
socio-legal research work can be done without consulting literature books, Articles, Bare Acts
provisions and various internet sites for related research. The literature review of the related
study not only helps avoid repetition but also to provide clarity of concept and better
understanding of research. In the past couple of years mob lynching has become the subject of
central importance to law students, government authority and practitioners alike.
29
https://en.newworedencyclopedia.org/lynching

14
There are few articles and research paper on mob lynching in India but there is no books and
thesis on that topic in India. So there is a wide scope for research on this topic as it's a burning
issue and has impact on the society and worldwide also. A lots of articles and journals have been
searched, studied and included in my research work. Some of the articles and research paper are
mention here;

1.5 (i) INDIAN CONTEXT

In Recent Writ Petition (civil) no.754/2016, Tahseen S. Poonawalla, Awrit petition filed by a
social activist Tehseen S. Poonawalla. The judgment was given by a three- judge’s bench headed
by then CJI Dipak Mishra and Justice DY Chandrachud and AM Khanwilkar. In 2018, the Apex
Court of India has extensively deal with the issue of lynching and given recommendation to the
state to make effective laws to tackle this evil and traced the cases of mob lynching in their
respective area and submits the report. The apex court blamed the rising intolerance and
polarization in the country for growing instances of lynching and called for strict act in
opposition to the perpetrators. The supreme court further said, “ hate crimes as product of
intolerance, ideological dominance and prejudice ought not to be tolerated….extra judicial
elements and non state actors cannot be allowed to take the place of law……these extra judicial
attempts under the guise of protection of the law have to be nipped in the bud.” The Apex court
give so many directions to all states of India and submit a report related to incidents of mob
lynching.

“Mob lynching: An uprising offence needed to be strenuous under the Indian legal
system”, Arnold Sangma (2017), discussed about the increase in rise of mob lynching in India.
Scholar mentioned that “there is no particular law against lynching in legal system of India”,
although it is a serious and heinous crime and people involved in this are liable to punishment. It
was advised in the paper that awareness programs should be organized at every level and
imparted knowledge about legal structure, consequences of lynching and why mob lynching
should be stopped in the nation.

"Mob Frenzy and Lynching...#Not in My Name" by NeehsaHalai (2017), discussed about the
meaning and definition of mob lynching. Cases and examples related to mob lynch in India and
history behind it was recorded. This paper also described the various reasons behind the raging

15
anger in the public which lead to such killing including misuse of technology and silence of legal
action. Data is covered related to the events of mob violence and need a strong legislation to
tackle this situation.

Research Paper by Aman Gupta (2018) mentioned about mob lynching in his paper "Mob
Lynching, The Conundrum of Instant Justice". The scholar tried to explain why people engage
into the act of violence and take law in their hands. Such people don't consider the legal path as
the right way of dealing with any crime. The scholar has mentioned about the need of a law like
Manav Suraksha Kanoon (MASUKA), which should be implemented with the aim of dealing
with criminal activities which need instant justice and can engage police for imposing proper
channel.

"Who rules India? A few notes on the Hindu right", Tanika Sarkar (2018) mentioned about
the extreme behavioral effects of the Hindu religion and how people use Hindu culture as a
shield to raise communal issues. Hindus have been over-powering people of other religion,
especially Islamic culture, and find every possible reason to act against them. Numerous cases of
mob lynching have been recorded which are based on killing or smuggling of cattle, mainly cow
by Muslim folk. Hindus find it a reason to kill people of other religion, without having complete
knowledge of scenario.

Mob Lynching:A New Crime Emerging in India by Nitya Nand Pandey (Dec., 2018), “Mob
lynching even though a new crime in Indian scenario but has been coming from time to time
through the world society for centuries. Lynch law that was started in the American village but
that can be considered entered on white black and nationality issues. But in India mob lynching
has been on different issues which have been observed by the political parties of the country
from their own point of views and whether the place is on the road or in the parliament. They
used it to achieve their own personal politics motives”.

WhatsApp Vigilantes : “An Exploration of Citizen Reception and Circulation of


WhatsApp Misinformation Linked to the Mob Violence in India by Shakuntala Banaji and
Ram Bhat with Anushi Aggarwal , Nihal Passanha and Mukti Sadhana Pravin (2018)”,
“Analyzed the relationship between use of WhatsApp to spread the fake news and

16
disinformation in India and also mentioned the increase in lynching and associated vigilante
violence in India since 2015. They also focus on the intersection of misinformation, fake news,
propaganda, mob violence, socio-political context of technology use, user experience and
motivations, media literacy, policy and regulation. They also analyzed that in India if WhatsApp
user is male, urban or rural, young or middle age, technologically literate, Hindu, upper or
middle caste, then they are more likely to share particular types of misinformation and hate
speeches”.

Research Paper by Akash Rai, Mob Lynching in India and its Relation with IPC(2018),
described the meaning of mob lynching that is" instant justice" and various reason behind it. This
paper established relation of mob lynching with the IPC and what are the provision related to the
punishment under Indian penal code also mentioned.

Research Paper by Ashraya Singh, Mob Lynching in India: Present and Future Prospect
(2018), stated various legal provision regarding mob lynching and problems for the enforcement
of law. Honourable Supreme Court issued guidelines to every state to designate nodal officer at
district level for taking action and adopt measures to prevent such heinous crime and identify the
area where incidents of mob violence have been provided in the recent period and arrange a
crime/violence victim scheme. This research also point out the bills introduced by Member of
Parliament to curb this violence.

A Research Paper by Seema Uikey, Nidhi Dubey (2018), mentioned about that, “various
platforms like WhatsApp is responsible for the incidents of mob lynching. India is observing a
high rise in mob lynching. More than 200 millions user India is WhatsApp market. Its user
forwarded more messages, photos and videos than in any other country in the world. Many of the
messages were forwarded to multiple groups which had more than 100 members each. But the
service is also providing a platform to spread the fake news and religious hatred. Indian ministry
of electronics and information technology called on WhatsApp to take immediate action to end
this menace”.

Mob lynching: “Lynching Scenario in India and Implementation of Anti Lynching law in
Indian Legal System” by Chitrang Singh Rathore (2018) stated that there is no particular law

17
and provision in IPC which states lynching as a crime. To punish a wrongdoer there should be
need of implementation and exertion of anti-lynching law in India.

A research by Rashmi Dubey, Ujjwala Sakhalkar, “A Critical Analysis of Rising


Intolerance and Growing Polarization: Lynching (2019)” mentioned about the data of all
states of India related to incidents of mob violence. “Lynching is against the law and insult the
value of Constitution. Law has been crucial part of man- made society. The very basic purpose of
law is to keep a check upon the action of the individual and to protect the society from various
criminal. People are seeking of instant justice for any form of crime thereby creating a fear to the
existing law which are meant to protect & preserve the society”.

Research Paper by Irfan Engineer, “Mob Lynching in India are Manufactured Communal
Violence (2019)”, mentioned about the increasing rate of communal violence and mob lynching.
“Most of the cases are related to the cow vigilantism, other triggers have been rumors of child
lifting and allegation of being witch in case of female. Researcher also stated the similarities
between the communal violence and mob lynching is that both are based on distrust of the state
in delivering justice to victims. In both cases lynchers and rioters want instant justice without
investigating the guilt of victim. He also pointed out the difference between communal violence
and mob lynching. communal riots is a war against the all community and no one is targeted but
mob lynching targets particular individual who are proclaimed by the mob to be guilt of
particular crime”.

A Case Study Related to Mob Lynching by Mithilesh Kumar Choubey (2019) related to
incidents in the state of Jharkhand. In 2018 Jharkhand has witnessed a number of mob lynching
incidents. In these incidents majority of sufferer were Muslims so opposition parties alleged that
these incidents are sponsored by Hindu organization. Attempts have been made to reach the root
cause of mob violence in Jharkhand and efforts have been made to establish that all violence in
Jharkhand was not the outcome of communal hatred but deep rooted insecurity in rural area and
also other factors are responsible. This paper also criticized that every mob lynching issue as an
incidents of hatred against the minority. The study showed that in 2018 three types of crowed
was involved in mob violence incidents in Jharkhand. First were cow vigilantes, second by angry
villagers and lastly so called anti mob lynching protestors.

18
“ Hate Speech & Mob Lynching : A Study of its Relations, Impacts and Regulating laws”
by Dr. Radhey Sham Jha, Dr. Vipin Jain, Dr. Chanchal Chawla (Sept. 2019), This articles
discussed about that words by spoken or written in any way are more dangerous than the direct
hurt. In a democratic state people cannot only criticize the policies of government in the name of
so called freedom of speech and expression but also make personal comments on individuals.
There are many provisions in law to restrict this but in reality on the name of implementation
that is zero. Hate speech is one of the most burning issues in present time and its connection with
the mob lynching is most dangerous as it caused loss of many lives. Researchers have tried to
explore the connectivity of Hate Speech with the Mob lynching and made efforts and suggestions
to improve this problem.

Mob Lynching in India: Sine Qua Non of Legal Intervention by Tanviya dav & Nagendra
Abedker Sole (2019), mentioned about the meaning and various reasons for the growth of mob
lynching in India. In this paper Researcher said that “there is no national law to prevent the mob
lynching; however victims have the protection of human rights to get the justice”. It deals with a
study on various case related to mob lynching all over the India and role of legal machinery in
curbing the menace.

“Indian States Can Stop Rampaging Lynch Mobs” by Chakshu Roy (Sep, 2019), discussed
about how states of our country can stop the incidents of mob lynching. Apex court issued
various guidelines to prevent the lynching. “So far three states have passed legislative backing to
the guidelines issued by the Supreme Court. Manipur was the first state to do so follow by
Rajasthan and West Bengal. Researcher said that law are not the only solution to a problem but
set out or supplemented with other measures. The responsibility of the state legislature should
not be limited to enact a law providing strict punishment but need to be continuously involved in
the issue”.

1.5 (ii) FOREIGN CONTEXT

“Mob Violence in the Old South” by Clement Eaton (1942), mentioned mob lynching against
the abolitionist. “The list of mobs against the abolitionist is mere fraction of the act of violence
directed against the antislavery reformers. After the decades of 1830 the mobbing of abolitionist
gradually subsided at the north. Consequently in the land of Dixie mob violence attained a

19
greater significance than in other sections of the country because mob and vigilance committee
continued from 1831 to 1861 to serve as powerful machinery in controlling public opinion”.

Mob Violence and the Prosecuting Attorney by Robert M. Karton (1968) mentioned the
concept of civil disobedience. It is generally one which refers to the use of non-violence tactics
used by large groups of people during which a specific law is violated to test its constitutionality
or to protest an illegal injustice resulting from some governmental and quasi governmental
policy. This paper also defined the suggestion for procedure and essential concepts in riots
control and mass arrest situation and also provide some of the statutory provision that have been
generally applied in one jurisdiction are, solicitation, battery, burglary, arson ,unlawful use of
weapons, resisting or obstructing a peace officer etc.

"The NAACP Crusade against Lynching, 1909-1950", written by William K. Mills (1982),
the struggle of the organization NAACP was described, against mob lynching. The author
discussed about the violent actions and frustration of a campaign held at national level, against
lynching. It was also discussed how this association made progress and brought about changes in
civil rights.

Houghton Mifflin (1991) discussed about the extremities and history of lynching in America,
against African Americans, and how even the law was against the black community. The author
has even mentioned the statistics of the killings of both white and Black men and women, for the
period of 1882 till 1933, with more cases of killings of the black people, and that too without any
valid proof Sarkar, T. (2018) “Who Rules India; A Few Notes on the Hindu Right”.

"Lynching, Federalism and the Intersection of Race and Gender in the Progressive
EraBarbara" Holden-Smith (1995), discussed about a lynch of more than thousands of people
kill Luther and his wife in 1904 during the period in American history known as progressive Era.
At that time a lynching of black by white hardly investigated and prosecuted and almost never
punished. This article also focused on failure to pass anti lynching bill in progressive Era by the
legislation. The author mentions that the laws against lynching were not executed thinking this
was beyond the hold of Congress authority. The paper covers the suffering of both black and
white people in the various parts of the state, with the reasons of the killings as well.

20
“Conclusion: Reflections On Lynching Scholarship by W. Fitzhugh Brundage (Sept.
2005)”, discussed about “the history of lynching in America and the United State Senate issued
in 2005 an apology for its historical failure to pass anti lynching legislation. Kendrick concluded
that the large number of lynching in the mid west especially against the black population and
indicates that the problem is not merely a matter of psychology of southern whites”.

A Article by Adam Burns (2010) “Without Due Process: Albert E. Pillsbury and the Hoar
Anti-Lynching Bill” stated about that during the 19th and 20th centuries various petitions and
protest against lynching, particularly in south and failure to prosecute lynchers effectively
because USA never passed a Bill for eliminating lynching.

“Judge Lynch Denied: Combating Mob Violence in the America south, 1877-1950” by E.
M. Back (2015) discussed that the rough dimension of southern mob violence arose between
1877 and 1950. In that time 31,000 incidents of mob lynching done in which more than 3800
southerners died. Scholars and activists had observed that while lynchers roamed the southern
landscape, they weren't successful in meeting out their form of justice. Researcher also mention
about that “early in 20th century National Association for the advancement of coloured people,
Commission on Interracial Cooperation, Tuskegee institution and the Association of the southern
women for the prevention of mob lynching kept newspaper cutting files on reported mob
violence but most of their efforts were aimed at documentation only” . Actual lynching and much
of their work focused in attempt to promote proposed federal anti lynching legislation.

In the internet article by Susan Glenn (2015), “We charge genocide, The 1951 Black Lives
Matter Campaign”, around 152 killings which happened in the period of 1945 till 1951, were
recorded. All these incidents were the outcome of police action and mob lynching against
women and children of Africa. It was reported that the United Nations enforced a law against
genocide, but United States failed to implement this law and thus legal action should be taken
against USA.

1.6 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

There are ‘three organs of the state’ namely, “legislature, executive and judiciary”. Legislature
has a duty to make the law for the country, executive has a duty to execute the law and the
judiciary provides the justice. Hon'ble Supreme Court issued various guidelines and directions to

21
all states to prevent the incidents of mob lynching. But now only three states have passed the
Anti-Lynching bill.

1.7 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

Identifying a problem gives power and energy to tackle and sort-out the every problem has in it
seeds of its own solution. This research work critically examines the incidents of mob lynching
in India in a comprehensive way.

The main objective of this research is to increase the knowledge of common ones and indulgent
of the violence and justice phenomena and also for the examination that how it can be controlled
or banned.

The questions are as follows: -

1. To know the meaning and definition of lynching


2. To study the main causes for the lynching
3. What happens in such violence/lynching circumstances?
4. To analyze the procedure required relating to mob lynching
5. To critically examine the IPC , CRPC and other law passed by the various state
government related to mob lynching
6. To highlights the direction issued by the Apex Court in the Tehseen S. Poonawala
(2016) case
7. To suggest the instruments to stop such incidents.
8. To find out the shortcomings of the existing legislature
9. To critically examine the problem of mob lynching and law is prevailing in India and
comparison with other countries to prevent it.

1.8 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

1. Are community and religious fanatics accountable for mob lynching, mostly faith and
sentiments of people are the ultimate source of mob lynching?
2. Are fake news on social media, twitter, face book and WhatsApp responsible for mob
lynching? Now it’s time to make a strong law because existing laws are not sufficient to
deal or solve the incidents of mob lynching.

22
1.9 Research Methodology

The present study is basically a combination of doctrinal and non doctrinal in nature. In the
present study the basic tools of doctrinal legal research mainly are the CrPC, IPC, The Indian
Constitution, “Rajasthan Protection from Lynching Bill 2019”, “The West Bengal (Prevention of
Lynching) Bill, 2019”, Manipur Anti- Mob Violence Bill 2018, The Gau Rakshak Bill 2017,
“Universal declaration of Human Rights 1948”, the case reports, legal periodicals, the debates of
Constituent Assembly, Legislation of other democratic countries on the same topics.

1.9 (i) Sources of Doctrinal Research

The informative sources may be divided as:-

a. Primary Sources: It includes the study and analyzes of periodicals, reports, newspaper,
bylaws, notification, paper presented in conferences, rules and regulations, administrative
orders, recommendation and guidelines of Ministry of Home Affairs and honourable
Supreme Court and various landmark judgments.
b. Secondary Sources: In this study secondary sources are research papers, texts books,
websites, treaties, and commentaries on statues, abstracts, bibliographies, dictionaries,
encyclopaedias, indexes, thesaurus and reviews.

1.9 (ii) Non-doctrinal research: The researcher also to do some field survey and data collection
by way of Google form and in the form of questionnaire to know how much of the present laws
has addressed the issue of mob lynching. The pre-determined questions distributed or
administered to at least 700 people indirectly through e-mail, WhatsApp and any other
appropriate methods of communication.

1.10 CHAPTERISATION

The research work divided into eight chapters.

Chapter 1: Introduction

This chapter is introductory in nature and explains the meaning and various definition of mob
lynching. What is the nature of lynching, social characteristics and review of literature also

23
included. This chapter also explains the statement of problem, aim and objectives of the study,
the hypothesis and the research methodology used for carrying the recent study.

Chapter 2: Historical background, Reasons and growth of mob lynching

This chapter comprises of a basic understanding about the historical background and the factors
responsible for mob lynching. The word "Lynch” originated first time from the American
Revolution. Just like America, In India also there was so many past incidents but called from
different names. There are so many reasons for the growth of mob lynching like, fake news and
hate news, illiteracy, unemployment, religious sentiments, rumors relating to child trafficking
etc. also define in this chapter.

Chapter 3: Existing law in India covering the cases of mob lynching

There are so many law passed by the parliament in our country. Mob lynching is a serious
offence now a days and to solve this problem there are so many legislation like IPC, CrPC,
Evidence Act, Human Rights, Constitutional Law and many bills passed by the state
government. This chapter includes all laws existed in our Country and bills passed by the state
government to curb the events of violence.

Chapter 4: Comparative overview of the law dealing with mob lynching in India and other
countries

This chapter comprises comparative overview of the law related to mob lynching in India and
other countries. There are so many bills and act passed by the foreign countries like United State,
Nigeria, South Africa and Virginia etc.

Chapter 5: Challenges and issues before the Indian legislature

Legislature is a main organ of government to make the law. What are loopholes in the existing
legislation and why government need separate law to compact with the incidents of violence all
are included in this chapter. Apart from the law there are so many issues and challenges in front
of legislation these also comprised this chapter. .

Chapter 6: Mob lynching and judicial approach

24
The main work of judiciary is to enforce the law. Honourable Supreme Court issued guidelines
related to incidents of mob lynching to all the state governments and suggested some measures to
deal with this problem defined in this chapter.

Chapter 7: Analysis of data collected

Related to the results of the study based on the empirical legal research, a non doctrinal method
of research. Data which would be collected through the electronic means and result of the present
study are represented with the help of figures and tables. Here the main focus is to draw some
inferences on the basis of responses of the individual and to establish a link with relevant
literature. This chapter also tested the hypothesis framed in chapter 1 with the help of research.

Chapter 8: Conclusion and Suggestion

This chapter explained the main finding of the entire research work which has come out from the
previous chapters with the theoretical discussion, doctrinal and non doctrinal research.
Researcher has tried to explain the some suggestions inferred from this research in this chapter.

25
CHAPTER - II

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND, REASONS AND GROWTH OF MOB LYNCHING

2.1 INTRODUCTION

Mob Lynching is a deliberately and unauthorised killing of human beings by a group of unlawful
persons. The genesis of the particular word "lynch" is difficult to understand, but it seems
developed during the Revolution in America. It comes from the phrase "Lynch Law",
means punishment without trial. Two Americans Charles Lynch and William Lynch during this
era are generally credited for this phrase lived in Virginia. Charles Lynch was more credited with
this phrase Lynch because he was an America revolutionary punished by the irregular court in
Virginia as faithful followers of British during the revolutionary war of America. The term
‘Lynch’ and ‘the Lynch law’ to be derived from his name.

“Every society has many forms of extrajudicial punishments, including murder. The legal and
cultural backgrounds of American lynching were carried across the Atlantic by migrants from
the British Isles to colonial North America. Collective violence was a common aspect of the
early modern Anglo-American legal landscape. In British Atlantic group violence was usually
nonlethal in intention and result. During the decades before the Civil War free Blacks, Mexicans
in the South West, and runaways were the objects of racial lynching in the United State”.

The decades finishing common war reproduction the Great Repression has been distinguished as
the lynching period on the grounds that before the Civil War lynching was inconsistently
practiced and infrequently brought about death. “From the late nineteenth century well into the
twentieth century, lynching episodes came to incorporate demonstrations of open discipline for
different social and legitimate infractions. The number of lynching occurrences started to rise
during reconstruction, however, it was no until the end of the nineteenth Century that lynching
expanded in recurrence and force”.

Lynching in the United States has a long shocking history. Lynching happened periodically
before the Civil War of America. In the ‘Post Civil War’ American mob lynching expanded
significantly so that before the 19th Century's over, it had immersed for all intents and purposes

26
each area in the country. During the pinnacle of Southern Lynching (1882-1930) around 2,900
Southerners corroded because of lynching crowds, representing about 65% of all violence
unfortunate casualties in the USA.

2.2 INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

In 1905, the ‘Communist’ ‘James E. Cutler’ started his book “Lynch-Law: An Investigation into
the History of Lynching in the United States”. He viewed that “our nation's national wrongdoing
is lynching. The training whereby hordes catch people associated with the wrongdoing and
execute them with no procedure of law is to be found in no other nation of a high level of human
advancement. Besides the America there are many countries where lynching incidents took
place”.
2.2 (i) AMERICAN REVOLUTION

"Lynching" began in mid-eighteenth-century America. In those days, lynching alluded to


vigilante equity dispensed to dark individuals. 30 Before the American Civil War finished few
cases of dark slaves being lynched were accounted for in the US. “Lynching isn't an issue that is
constrained to the US reports allude to lynching cases from Sudan, Nigeria, Haiti, and different
nations. As indicated by a 2013-UNPOL (UN Police) report, lynching is widespread in Haiti.
The number of known instances of lynching expanded from 90 out of 2009 to 121 out of 2012 in
that nation”. India doesn't keep up a piece of different information for lynching cases. According
to the National Crime Record Bureau there are various numbers which make a pointless
confusion and postpones the powerful guidelines on such cases. US of America has seen harmful
times of horde lynching earlier and in 1882 to 1968 during the post American Civil War,
altogether 4,852 individuals were killed by mob lynching and nearly 73 percent out of these were
Negros. 31

“During the 19th century lynching in British Empire coincided with a period of violence which
denied people participation in white-dominated society on the basis of race after passing
the Emancipation Act of 1833.Lynching acquired with violence against black in 19thCentury.
Lynching began in 1880s and was common in the South America until the 1930s, between this
period, an estimated 2400 Black men, women and children were killed by mob. It was used as
30
RobertLZangrando, About lynching Gwendolyn Benntt’s Life and career available at http:www.englishillinois.edu/maps/poetslynching.html.
31
History of lynching, hhtp://www.naacp.org./history-of-lynchings

27
punishment against slaves who tries to escape from their owners. Sometimes, whites who openly
opposed slavery was the victims of lynch by mobs. 32 After the 14th Amendment to the
Constitution blacks were given all the rights of citizenship. List or crimes that promoted lynch by
mobs during this period were gambling, quarrelling arguing with a white man, attempting to
vote, unruly remarks, demanding respect and acting suspiciously. Even they were not given
chance to have a fair trial”. 33

2.2 (ii) LYNCHING IN UNITED STATES

The lynching occurred in US when the post Civil War was most regularly in Western and
Southern states wilderness settlement &generally in nineteenth century. Most of the incidents
were completed lack of fair treatment due process independent from anyone else delegated
commissions, crowds, or seems a type of discipline for assumed offenses. Earlier lynching was
recorded in St. Louis state in the year 1835, when a dark man identified as Maltose who
murdered a representative while he was being brought to prison was caught affixed to trees and
killed at a turn parcel city centre before a horde of more than 1,000 individuals.

The biggest violence was committed during the war and maybe the biggest mob violence in
entire United State history when 42 people were hanged in October 1862 at the state of
Gainesville, Texas. The majority of the exploited people were punished by hanging prejudicially
preliminary yet at any rate; fifteen of them didn't get that custom. The men had been blamed for
insurgence or conspiracy. Five additional individuals were punished by hanging in the Decatur
state, Texas was part of similar scope. 34

An investigation of the period from 1868 to 1871 evaluated that KKK was engaged with more
than 450lynch incidents. The consequence of the battle was a time of change and communal
unrest, where most of white men used to be war veterans. Hordes typically claimed wrongdoings
and against which blacks were lynched by whites.

The occurrence of mob violence on Laura Nelson in city of Okemah Oklahoma on 25-5-1911and
against blacks from the 1890 to 1920, mostly lynching were performed against the darks, among
them 160 were ladies. Somewhere in the range of 1882 to 1968, the Institute of Tuskegee

32
NACCP thirty years of lynching in the United States, 1889-1918 NEWYORK city Arno Press, 1919
33
http://www.legal-tools.org/doc/fab
34
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynching

28
recorded nearly 3,450 lynching of blacks and 1,300 lynching of whites. In any case, the lynching
of individuals from other ethnic gatherings, for example, Chinese and Mexicans, were hanged
according to the report of Tuskegee Institute. In the cities of New Orleans, followed by their
vindication on the alleged charges of murder of the neighbourhood officer of police station took
place. The biggest violence by mob was the Chinese slaughter in the year 1871.

During the modernization, “the ‘Ku- Klux-Klan & others’ utilized violence as a way to control
over the blacks, constraining them to their job for the grower and keeping them away from
practicing their entitlement to cast a ballot. Government courts and troops implementing the
Civil Rights Act of 1871 generally separated the modernization time Klan”.

Lynching incidents decreased quickly during the period of 1870s. Before the finish of the 1900,
with battles overwork and disappointment, and proceeding with farming despondency, lynching
rose once more. The quantity of lynching topped toward the finish of the nineteenth century, yet
these sorts of killings proceeded into the twentieth century. 35
Further, in the year 2000, a person named James Allen distributed an assortment of 145 lynching
photographs in book structure just as on the web, with composed words and videos to go with the
pictures. 36
2.2 (iii) LYNCHING IN CALIFORNIA

In California the term 'lawful offense lynching' used to be a part of domestic law. It depicted the
demonstration of removing somebody from the guardianship of a cop by "methods for revolt".
“It doesn't allude to the demonstration of lynching, or murder by physical savagery. This rule has
been utilized to charge people who have attempted to liberate somebody from police
guardianship. There have been a few outstanding cases in the twenty-first century, some
disputable when a dark individual has endeavoured to liberate another dark individual from
police custody. 37 In 2015, Governor Jerry Brown marked enactment by Senator Holly Mitchell
evacuating "lynching" from the state's criminal code without remark after it got a consistent
endorsement in an election by State Legislators”.
A recent report established that presentation to lynching in the Post-Modernization south
"decreased neighbourhood dark voter turnout by generally 2.5 rate focuses." That was not the

35
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynching
36
Ibid.
37
Barragan, James (4 September 204). “Murrieta immigration protesters charged with obstructing officers”

29
only manner to make target the blacks but many more other viciousness aimed at blacks,
especially in the period of crusade. Most altogether casting a ballot, from the year 1890 to the
end of 1908, a constitution and other legislations were approved in the states of southern area,
which disappointed mostly the blacks because of obstructions to be a voter in enrolment. All
these activities had significant impacts, before long decreasing dark voter turnout in a large
portion of the state to irrelevant sums.

Another, examination found in 2017 in steady proof of “Stewart Tolnay and E. M. Beck's” case
that lynching be "because of monetary challenge between African American and white cotton
labourers". The examination provided that lynching was related to more noteworthy dark out-
movement and higher state-level wages from 1920 to 1930.

2.2 (iv) LYNCHING IN THE EUROPEAN STATES

“September Massacres of 1792”, in which many Parisian hordes murdered several royalist
detainees. “In Britain, a progression of race riots broke out in a few urban communities in 1919
among whites and dark mariners. In Liverpool, after a dark mariner had been cut by two whites
in a bar, his companions assaulted the bar in retribution. Accordingly, the police attacked holding
up houses with dark tenants, joined by an angered lynch crowd".

Circumstances are not clear concerning announced "lynching" in Germany. Nazi purposeful
publicity now and then attempted to delineate state-supported brutality as unconstrained
lynching. The most famous example of this was "Kristallnacht", which the administration
depicted as the consequence of "well-known rage" against Jews, yet it was done in a sorted out
and arranged way, essentially by SS men. Essentially, the around 150 affirmed murders of
enduring group individuals from slammed Allied airplanes in retribution for what Nazi publicity
called "Somewhat English American bombarding fear" was primarily directed by German
authorities and individuals from the police or the Gestapo, although regular folks some of the
time participated in them. The execution of adversary aircrew without preliminary now and again
had been requested by Hitler by and by in May 1944. Freely it was reported that foe pilots would
never again be shielded from "open fierceness". There was mystery orders gave that denied

30
police officers and fighters from meddling for the foe in clashes among regular citizens and
Allied powers, or arraigning regular folks who occupied with such acts. 38

2.2 (v) LYNCHING IN MEXICO

In November 2004, the lynching of three citizens of Mexico covert government operators
researching an opiate related wrongdoing were killed by mob violence in the city of “San Juan
Ixtayo pan of Mexico City” by a mad and enraged group who were taking photos and making
videos and allegedly suspected of attempting to snatch kids from a school of local community.
The specialists promptly distinguished their identity yet they were identified and brutally beaten
for a few times until 2 of them were dead and set ablaze. The occurrence was secured by the
press nearly from earliest starting point, together with their requests for be of assistance and their
homicide.

When police salvage units showed up, two of the operators were decreased to roasted bodies and
the third was truly harmed. Both nearby and government specialists had relinquished the
operators, alleging that the city was excessively at distant for them for attempting to mediate. A
few authorities said they would incite a slaughter if the specialists attempted to protect the men
39
from the crowd.

2.2 (vi) LYNCHING IN BRAZIL


As per The Wall Street Journal, "In the course of recent years, the same number of as 1.5 million
Brazilians have participated in the lynching. In Brazil, hordes currently kill or attempt to kill
more than one speculated culprit daily, as indicated by the University of São Paulo humanist José
de Souza Martins, Brazil's driving master on lynching." 40

2.2 (vii) LYNCHING IN SOUTH AFRICA

The act of thrashing and neck binding guilty parties and political rivals developed during the
1980s during the politically-sanctioned racial segregation period in South Africa. Inhabitants of
dark townships shaped "individuals' courts" and utilized whip lashings and passing by neck

38
“Hamm 1944”. Polizeihistorischesammlung-paul.de
39
Niels A. Uildriks 92009), Policing Insecurity: Police Reform, Security, and Human Rights in Latin America. Rowman& Littlefield, p.201
40
“In Latin America, Awash in Crime, Citizens Impose Their Own Brutal Justice” The Wall Street Journal. December 6, 2018.

31
binding to threaten individual blacks who were viewed as associates with the legislature. The
neck binding is the torment and execution of an unfortunate casualty by lighting a lamp oil filled
elastic tyre which had been constrained to the injured individual's chest, neck and arms. Neck
binding was utilized to rebuff exploited people who used to be claiming to be double-crossers to
the dark freedom development alongside their family members and partners. Some of the time
the "individuals' courts" committed errors, or they utilized the framework to rebuff those whom
the counter Apartheid development's pioneers contradicted. An enormous contention emerged at
the time when training was embraced by the leader named Winnie Mandela, at that point the
spouse of the Nelson Mandela who was detained and was a senior individual from the then
African-National- Congress. All the additional as of late, street pharmacists and other posse
individuals were killed by the aggressive people against Gang asterism and specially related to
Drugs, an association of vigilante. 41

2.2 (viii) LYNCHING IN NIGERIA

All the acts of prejudicial disciplines, including violence by mob were eluded as 'wilderness
equity' in the state of Nigeria. The training is far-reaching and "a built-up some portion of
Nigerian culture", originating before the presence of police and administration. “The crime
exposed the jungle justice and mob justice that is prevalent in Nigeria and exposed many
loopholes in Nigeria's law enforcement system”. The nonappearance of a working legal
framework and ruling implementation, combined by defilement is accused of the proceeding
with the presence of the training.

2.2 (ix) LYNCHING IN ISRAEL

In Israel on12th October, 2000, a fierce and notorious person named Ramallah was lynched. It
was occurred near the police headquarters of el-Birch, where a group of Palestinian slaughtered
and mangled the assemblages of two reservists from “Israel Defence Forces”, named “Vadim
Norzhich and Yosef Yossi Avrahami”, who by mistake and incidentally entered into the place,
occupied and controlled by the Ramallah and were arrested by Palestinian Authority police
officers. The officers of Israeli Defence Forces were brutally beaten up and wounded. Then, a
41
Beresford, David (January 27, 1989) “Row over ‘mother of the nation’ Winnie Mandela. The Guardian Newspapers Limited.Archived from
the original on 8 October 2006

32
member of Palestinian, showed from the window, showing his fully blood-drenched hands to his
group that ejected with cheers and danced with joy. Before long, the group hauled the two
damaged dead bodies of the officers to Al-Manara Square at the downtown area and started an
off the cuff party. Cops continued to attempt to appropriate film from correspondents. 42

In the month of July 2014, three Israeli citizens were grabbed by Mohammed-Abu-Khdeir, a
young boy of ‘16-year-old Palestinian’, when he was sitting tight for daybreak Ramadan
petitions outer side of his home in the city of Eastern Jerusalem. The members of mob
constrained him into his vehicle and beat him while heading to the betrayed woods region of
New Jerusalem, at that point poured gas on him and set him at fire in the wake of being
tormented and beat numerous times. On 30-11-2015, two minors were seen as liable for Khdeirs
homicide and they were individually condemned for life and 22 yrs detainment on February. 43

2.3 INDIAN PERSPECTIVE

In India, lynching may reflect interior pressures between ethnic networks. A model in the year
2006 Kher-Lanji slaughtered, at that place five individuals from a Dalit community were
butchered by a Kunbi position individuals in Khair-Lanji, a town at Bhandara area of
Maharashtra state. Although this occurrence was accounted for instance of "upper" rank
viciousness against individuals from a "lower" station, it was seen for instance of mutual
brutality. 44 The lady relatives of the alleged family were strutted stripped in broad daylight,
before being disfigured and killed.

India is watching a skyscraper in cases identifying with lynching. At the point when the
individuals go rogue, it very well may be risky for the unfortunate casualty who is in danger of
their lives. Episodes of lynching can be connected to innovation. PDFs are utilized to spread bits
of gossip about the bovine butcher. Another type of crude purposeful publicity is produced to
fashion an aggregate majority personality. Strictly charged hordes have gotten dynamic in
apportioning vigilante equity. They are going out of control all through the nation. Violence by
mob has become a continuous event. The courts are also silent on the issue of mob violence.
Presently law has assumed a lower priority.

42
Philps, Alan (2000-10-13). “A day of Rage, revenge and bloodshed” The Daily Telegraph London
43
Hasson, Nir (3 May 206). “Abu Khdeir Murderer Sentenced to Life Imprisonment Plus 20 Years”. Haaretz.
44
“Age old rivalry behind Khairlanji violence Video”.NDTV.com. November 21, 2006.

33
Under IPC there are different chapters of offenses spread through the rundown of acts by an
individual, for example, offenses against abetment, offenses against murder, offenses identifying
with religion, etc, we ought to likewise incorporate offenses against mob lynching as it fits the
bill to be remembered for the IPC alongside different offenses. A criminal ought to be rebuffed
yet the act of crowd lynching isn't the best approach to rebuff a lawbreaker. Lynching is genuine
wrongdoing as it manages a homicide of an individual by a gathering of the irate crowd with no
legitimate power. “With the rising pattern of lynching in India, there is no protest in getting a law
identifying with lynching. Any individual acting against the lawful authority is an unlawful
demonstration and can be deserving of the court. The Indian Legal framework has no definition
and discipline concerning lynching”. There is a requirement of a strict law deals with violence or
mob violence as it likewise comes within wrongdoing focused on an individual against the
administration's wish. 45

There has been various lynching in connection to dairy animals’ vigilante brutality in India since
2014, 46 primarily including Hindu hordes “lynching Indian Muslims and Dalits”. Some
outstanding instances of such assaults incorporate the “2015 Dadri crowd lynching 47, the 2016
Jharkhand horde lynching, and the 2017 Alwar crowd lynching when a gathering of dairy
animal’s vigilantes murdered a 65 years old Muslim person Rakbar Khan, Baksi and Nagarajan
2017 and most recently shaheen baag related to CAA 2019 and Palghar lynching case”.

2.3 (i) LYNCHING IN ANCIENT INDIA:


a. SATI PRATHA

“Sati is depicted as a Hindu custom in India where the widow was scorched to remains on her
dead spouse's fire. Essentially the custom of Sati was accepted to be a wilful Hindu act in which
the lady deliberate chooses to take her existence with her better half after his passing”. Be that as
it may, there were numerous frequencies wherein the ladies had to submit Sati, some of the time
even hauled against her desire to the lit fire.

Although Sati is viewed as a Hindu custom, the ladies, known as Sati in Hindu strict writing,
didn't end it all on their dead spouse's fire. The principal lady known as Sati was the associate of

45
www.socialsciencejournal.in
46
“Cowboys and Indians; Protecting India’s cows” The Economist, 16 August 2016
47
“Indian mob kills man over beef easting rumour” Al Jazeera. 1Octuber 2015

34
Lord Shiva. Different well-known lady in Hindu writing titled Sati was Savitri. She was the lady
who returns back her husband life from the Yam. In the honour of Savitri and Lord Shiva sati
pratha was established. “This especially was increasingly prevailing among the warrior networks
in north India, particularly in Rajasthan and among the higher standings in Bengal in east India.
Among the Rajputs of Rajasthan, who gave a parcel of significance to valour and benevolence,
spouses and courtesans of the nobles even ended it all, when they came to realize that they're
adored kicked the bucket in the front line. In different pieces of India, it was similarly low. A
couple of leaders of India attempted to boycott this custom. The Mughals attempted to boycott it.
The British, because of the endeavours of Hindu reformers like Raja Ram Mohan Roy banned
this custom in 1829”.
“There aren't correct figures about the quantity of Sati occurrences. All in all, before this special
was prohibited in 1829, there were two or three hundred formally recorded rates every year.
Considerably after the exceptionally was banned, this especially didn't disappear totally. It took
not many decades before this custom nearly evaporated. Yet at the same time, there are
uncommon frequencies wherein the widow requests to intentional submit Sati. In 1987 an
eighteen years of age widow submitted Sati in a town of Rajasthan with the gift of her relatives.
In this occurrence the residents participated in the function, applauding and supporting the
widow for her demonstration. In October 1999 a lady madly hopped on her significant other's
fire astounding everybody. In any case, this occurrence was proclaimed suicide and not Sati,
because this lady was not constrained, constrained or adulated to submit this demonstration”.

b. RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE

Religious violence is come from the analysis of the scriptures and vulnerabilities of human
beings. “Religious violence directed against the people, cultural symbols, religious institution,
and leaders of faith or authority figure. It may be caused by an individual who are motivated by
psychological problems by group of people as part of their social, cultural, national or communal
expression and dominance. In a diverse society people different background profess multiple
faith sometime lead to religious violence. Human beings are very emotional and many factors
incite them into violent behaviour. Political, Social and ideological differences may lead to
religious violence”.

35
“Many wars were fought in the past to spread particular religious or destroy rival faiths such as
Roman Conquests, Spanish invasion in Asia, Europe, Africa and Latin America. In medieval
India million of people died due to cruelty, violence and ill-treatment perpetrated by the Muslims
rulers. In past women and children proved to be biggest victim of religious war. They were
subjected to rape, adultery, abduction, slavery and forceful marriage. Scriptures, beliefs, politics,
economic interest, secular ideology these were all responsible factors of religious violence”.

2.3 (ii) BEFORE INDEPENDENCE

The quick reason for the revolution was the utilization of Enfield rifles at Meerut. It became the
reason of 1857 Revolt.
“Indian Mutiny also called Sepoy Mutiny or First War of Independence, widespread but
unsuccessful rebellion against British rule in India in 1857–59. Begun in Meerut by Indian troops
in the service of the British East India Company, it spread to Delhi, Agra, Kanpur, and Lucknow.
In India it is often called the First War of Independence and other similar names”.

“To regard the rebellion merely as a sepoy mutiny is to underestimate the root causes leading to
it. British paramount i.e., the belief in British dominance in Indian political, economic, and
cultural life had been introduced in India about 1820. The British increasingly used a variety of
tactics to usurp control of the Hindu princely states that were under what were called subsidiary
alliances with the British. Everywhere the old Indian aristocracy was being replaced by British
officials. One notable British technique was called the doctrine of lapse, first perpetrated by Lord
Dalhousie in the late 1840s”.

“Another serious concern was the increasing pace of Westernization, by which Hindu society
was being affected by the introduction of Western ideas. Missionaries were challenging the
religious beliefs of the Hindus. The humanitarian movement led to reforms that went deeper than
the political superstructure. During his tenure as governor-general of India (1848–56), Lord
Dalhousie made efforts toward emancipating women and had introduced a bill to remove all
legal obstacles to the remarriage of Hindu widows. Converts to Christianity were to share with
their Hindu relatives in the property of the family estate. There was a widespread belief that the

36
British aimed at breaking down the caste system. The introduction of Western methods of
education was a direct challenge to orthodoxy, both Hindu and Muslim”.

“In late March 1857 a sepoy named Mangal Pandey attacked British officers at the military
garrison in Barrackpore. He was arrested and then executed by the British in early April. Later in
April sepoy troopers at Meerut refused the Enfield cartridges, and, as punishment, they were
given long prison terms, fettered, and put in jail. In this massacre thousands of Indians were
killed by the then British Rulers”.

a. JALLIANWALA BAGH MASSACRE

Slaughter is an aimless and ruthless butcher of numerous individuals. It implies that the killings
are without cautious judgment and an irregular. It might be against the individuals of a specific
religion as such or a specific network. Our nation has seen different slaughters the most
scandalous being the slaughter of Jallianwala Bagh when General Dayer ordered to fire on
innocent peoples who were assembled there to celebrate Baisakhi Festival on 13th April 1919. In
this genocide thousands of people were brutally murdered/killed by the cruel General: this
incident was not committed by mob on some individual but an individual became the reason of
mass killing, yet it was before the freedom time and the culprits were the officers of Britain.
Even after the period of Independence, there is not much difference only the culprits got
changed, however, slaughters continued occurring.

b. VIOLENCE DURING INDEPENDENCE

“In 1947, at the hour of the segment, human bodies became locales of lynching and aggregate
savagery, ladies and youngsters being the most noticeably terrible unfortunate casualties. The
historical backdrop of present-day India has a few occurrences of strict brutality. In the 1947
Partition when the two India and Pakistan accomplished their freedom from the British Raj there
occurred probably the best relocation in history when Muslims left India for Pakistan and Hindus
and Sikhs left Pakistan for India. It is assessed that somewhere in the range of 10 and 12 million
individuals crossed the outskirt among India and Pakistan in 1947. 48 In the following savagery

48
India: Partition, Mass Atrocity Endings, https://sites.tufts.edu/atrocityendings/2015/08/07/india-partition/,accused

37
between the Muslims and Hindus and Muslims and Sikhs between 1.5 to 2 million lost their
lives”. 49

2.3 (iii) AFTER INDEPENDENCE

“Since freedom several strict mobs have been recorded in Indian which thousands have been
slaughtered, generally, Muslims Minorities in India, particularly Sikhs, Muslims, and Christians,
are being oppressed by Hindu patriots having a place with the decision several political parties.
This has been broadly revealed in the media and by global guard dog associations. There has
additionally been an ascent in mutual and partisan savagery in India. For example, a Muslim has
been pounded the life out of in the eastern Indian territory of Jharkhand after apparently
requesting that a gathering quit playing noisy music on New Year's Day”.

a. “GUJARAT RIOTS (1969)”

“The 1969 Gujarat riots were an after effect of common animosity among Hindus and Muslims.
The viciousness was Gujarat's first significant mob that included butcher, fire-related crime and
plundering on an enormous scale. As indicated by the official figures, 66o individuals were
executed, 1074 individuals were harmed and more than 4800 0 lost their property. Informal
reports guarantee as high as 2000 passing. The most discouraging part of the viciousness was the
assault on Muslim shawls by their Dalit Hindu neighbours' who had welcoming relations with
them until the mobs”. 50

b. “MORADABAD RIOTS (1980)”

“The western Utter Pradesh town, which was initially settled by the child of Mughal ruler Shah
Jahan, has gotten a home for collective conflicts. The brutality happened when a gathering of
Muslims pelted stones at the nearby police for not expelling a pig from the neighbourhood ideas.
The police reacted with arbitrary terminating, which prompted more than a hundred passing”.
The complete passing count is farfetched however the administration paid remuneration for 400
passing. Be that as it may, the informal assessments run as high as 2500. 51.

49
https://www.counterpunch.org/208/02/02/the-darker-side-of-india-religious-violence
50
https://www.speakingtree.in/allslides/religious-violence-in-india
51
Ibid.

38
c. “SIKH MASSACRE (1984)”

“The anti-Sikh massacre of 1984 refers to a series of organized programs against members of the
Sikh community across India by anti-Sikh mobs in response to the assassination of then Prime
Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards at her residence. After the assassination of Indira
Gandhi on October 31, 1984 anti-Sikh riots erupted in some areas for several days killing more
than 3,000 Sikhs in New Delhi and an estimated 8,000 across India”.

d. KASHMIRI PANDITS

The local residents of Kashmir i.e. Kashmiri Pandits were thrown out by the majority of Muslims
with the help of greedy politicians and in the directions and protection provided by the “ISI and
Lashkar-e-Taiba” a Pakistani supported terrorist group. Thousands of “Kashmiri Pandits” were
killed and remaining took shelter at different places in the country without home, money, job and
hope of resettlement at their native place. Many political parties came in the power in the centre
as well as in the state but the condition of these people still unchanged.

The Windham slaughter took place in January 1998 in which 25 “Kashmiri Pandits” were
slaughtered by “the militants of Lashkar-e-Taiba” which was later come in the picture as a
culprit of this slaughter. 52 As indicated by the declaration of the solitary survivors,” the shooters
used the dress of the Indian Army and taken tea and breakfast with them”, hung tight the
declaration on the All-India-Radio all the Kashmiri Pandits have been secured and afterward
they shot down these individuals. After the occurrence of this slaughter, a sanctuary was
obliterated.

This is the latest instance of horde “lynching in Kashmir. On 24th July 2017 has captured 5 of
the 12 people distinguished to be a piece of the horde. Mohammad Ayub Pandit was the official
who was lynched by the horde. He was stripped and lynched by a horde outside the notable
Jamia Masjid in Srinagar's territory”.

“The official supposedly opened fire at a gathering of individuals who discovered him clicking
pictures close to a mosque. Three individuals were harmed in the terminating. The perished
official was making a video of stone-pelting by local people and protesting this, the horde

52
http://shodganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/4178/11/11_chapter%204.pdf

39
assaulted him. Official opened shoot through his administration gun in his resistance yet the
circumstance was crazy”. 53
e. “GODHRA RIOTS, GUJARAT (2002)”

“On the morning of February 27, 2002, a coach of the Sabarmati Express - Coach S6 - was set
ablaze and 59 passengers travelling in that coach were charred to death. The train had arrived at
Godhra station in Gujarat just then. The victims included 27 women and 10 children. Injuries
were suffered by another 48 passengers in the train”.
“A Commission of Inquiry was constituted by the Gujarat government headed by then Chief
Minister Narendra Modi. The Commission consisted Justice G T Nanavati and Justice KG Shah.
The Commission in its report submitted that most of the 59 people killed were karsevaks who
were returning from Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh”.
“The Sabarmati Express had begun its journey from Muzaffarpur and was on its way to
Ahmedabad. At least 2,000 karsevaks, who had gone to attend the PurnahutiMahaYagna at the
instance of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, had boarded the train from Ayodhya. The yagna was part of
Ram Temple building programme”.
“The train burning incident had within hours triggered violent riots across the state. The riots
broke out on the evening of February 2 and continued for 2-3 months across the state. The Centre
in 2005 informed Rajya Sabha that the riots claimed the lives of 254 Hindus and 790 Muslims. A
total 223 people were reported missing and thousands were rendered homeless as well. The
details were later published at the recommendation of the National Human Rights Commission.
The Congress-led UPA government set up a separate inquiry commission headed by Justice UC
Banerjee, who in his report submitted in March 2006, called the incident to be an accident. The
Supreme Court rejected the report as unconstitutional and invalid. Afterwards, the Supreme
Court constituted a Special Investigation Team. Justice KG Shah died in March 2008 before the
Commission could complete its inquiry. His position was taken over by Justice Akshay H Mehta.
Justice Nanavati and Justice Akshay Mehta submitted the final report of the Nanavati-Shah
Commission that same year describing the train burning as a conspiracy”.
“The Gujarat High Court in September 2017 commuted the death sentence awarded to 11
convicts to life term in the Godhra train burning case of 2002. The court, has, however, upheld
53
http://indianexpress.com/article/india/nowhatta-mob-lynching-jammu-kashmir-dysp-mohammed-ayub-pandit-killed-jamia-masjid-srinagar-
4717934

40
the life sentence awarded to 20 others by the special SIT court. The court’s verdict came on
appeals filed by the convicts and the prosecuting agency. After the Godhra Incident thousands of
innocent people lost their lives in communal violence including both communities i.e. Hindus
and Muslims”.

2.3 (iv) IN RECENT TIME


a. LYNCHING OF KHAIRLANJI 54,

In India, the principal detailed episode of mob violence is the lynching of Khairlanji committed
in 2006. 55This mob violence was the prevailing Kunbi rank and the solitary survivor needed to
battle for 10 years get equity. 56

b. LYNCHING OF DIMAPUR 57,

On 15-05-2015 a horde of around 7500 individuals burst in the Central Jail of Dimapur and
hauled the unfortunate casualty; it brought out a prisoner accused of rape and before his killing
by stripping he was brutally beaten up by the mob. One another injured individual was asserted
58
allegedly have submitted sexual brutality to ladies, with the point of rendering the retribution;
the horde hanged such person in question.

c. LYNCHING OF MOHAMMED AKHLAQ 59,

The exceptionally secured feature of Mohammed Akhlaq’s lynching on 28th Sep.2015 in Dadri,60
where an old Muslim person was killed merely on supposed utilization, possession and
consuming of meat. The declaration was produced using a close-by sanctuary by allegedly
expending meat. U. P. Govt. requested an authoritative inquiry into the issue.

54
September 29,2009
55
Khairlanji Massacre, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khairlanji_massacre
56
A.P.Samar, Because Khairlanji is not just another muder story! The Hindu, (22/08/2010), available at http://www.thehindu.com.
57
March 5, 2015
58
S. Bagchi, Dimapur lynch victim’s family awaits his Naga wife, The Hindu, (11/03/2015), available at
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/dimapur-lynch-victims-family-awaits-his-naga-wife/article6979437.ece
59
2015
60
A. Vatsa, Dadri: Mob kills man, injures son over ‘rumours’ that they ate beef, Indian Express, (25/12/2015), available at
http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/next-door-to-delhi-mob-kills-50-year-old-injuresson-over-rumours-they-ate-beef

41
d. LYNCHING OF CHATRA , JHARKHAND 61,

The killing of two Muslim persons by mob violence having business of animal dairy dealers at
Chatra, Jharkhand in 2016 by supposed bovine vigilantes. Both were slaughtered believing on
the information of carrying cows yet the genuine narrative was quite different as both were
carrying some oxygen cylinders for selling in the market of Chatra meanwhile a crowed reached
there and made allegations of having beef in their truck and killed them by hanging on a tree. 62

e. LYNCHING OF ALWAR, RAJASTHAN 63,


A Muslim man named ,Pehlu Khan, aged 55 years who was a dairy owner was badly beaten by a
cow security vigilante horde over the supposed updates on ox-like carrying. Mr. Pehlu Khan
surrendered after some time to his wounds. Later on after investigation the police give a clean
chit on all the recognized charged. 64

f. LYNCHING OF JHARKHAND 65,

In 2017, seven individuals after brutally beaten up were killed on the doubt of being youngster
kidnapers or child lifters. The brutality emerged after dissemination on notice information on
mobile media i.e. WhatsApp as a group of youngster kidnapers is approached in their locale. In
reality all these individuals were coming back after completing some business associated with
the clean India movement. Among them three were belonged to Hindu community and four of
them were from Muslim community. 66

g. LYNCHING OF PRATAPGARH, RAJASTHAN 67,


A number of rural village Panchayats officials were attempting to frighten away ladies who
moved to get freshened in the open field broad daylight by capturing their photographs when a

61
2016
62
M. Chowdhury, Cow vigilantism: Families contest Jharkhand government’s claim on Lateharlynchings, (23/03/2016) available at
https://scroll.in/article/805548/latehar-lynchings-good-step-to-stop-cow-slaughter.
63
2017
64
R.Kumar, Alwar lynching: Clean chit to all six accused named by Pehlu Khan in dying declaration, Indian Express, (14/09/2017), available at
http://indianexpress.com/articleindia/alwar-lynching-gau-rakshaks-cow-vigilance-clean-chit-to-all-six-accused-named-by-pehlu-khan-in-dying-
declaration-4843051
65
2017
66
The Wire Staff, Two Arrests, Protests Follow After WhatsApp Rumours Lead to Lynching of Seven in Jharkhand, (22/05/2017), available at
https://thewirein/138667/whatsapp-message-turns-tribals-violent-leaves-seven-dead
67
2017

42
dissident person Zafar khan mediated. He made an effort not to take photos of pooping ladies,
yet in reprisal, the officials beat him with kicks and sticks. After some time he surrendered to the
wounds. 68

h. LYNCHING OF JUNAID KHAN 69,

An unfortunate incident was occurred in a train with a passenger named Junaid khan in the
month of June of 2017. 70 He was travelling with his two brothers who were returning from Delhi
for celebrating their festival of Eid at their home with family members. During the journey they
had some quarrel with co-passenger regarding their seats however very soon it a big fight and
converted into teasing them with words like, "mullahs" or "hostile to national", they started to
play with their beards and their cloths and removed the cap. Suddenly, a piece of packet of non-
veg. burger was found from the pocket of Junaid and the members of that group started to call
them meat eaters meanwhile a person with a blade like weapon attacked on them and cut with
several wounds. Junaid after sometime surrendered because of deep wounds.

i. LYNCHING of AYUB PANDIT Dy. Supt. Police 71

In the state of J&K before removing of Article 370 the communal violence was a part of daily
life mainly in the name of religion or nationalism. A similar incident was occurred outside the a
Mosque in the Srinagar where a mob after the evening prayer lynched a police officer of their
own community because of his secular nature and taking action against them impartially. 72In the
month of June, a violent mob raising ace al-Qaeda including professional agents of Pakistan
killed Dy. S.P. Mr. Ayub Pandit in front of a mosque at the time of their pious festival Ramzan.
The Dy. S. P. Mr. Ayub Pandit was positioned on duty to maintain “law and order” during the
festival; all these activities were being performed in the supervision of Separatist Mirwaiz Umar
Farooq, who was also appointed as an administrator of the Mosque. Around 12 o’clock some
persons started to shout in favour of Pakistan and hosted Pakistani Flags in favour of Zakir Musa

68
PTI, Activist Zafar Khan lynched to death in Rajasthan’s Pratapgarh for objecting photography of women defecating in open, Indian Express,
(17/06/2017)/ available at http://indianexpress.com/article/india/activist-zafar-khan-lynched-to-death-in-rajasthans-pratapgarh-for-objecting-
photography-of-women-defecating-in-open-4707822
69
June 22, 2017
70
S. Biswas, Is India descending into mob rule?, BBC News, (26/06/2017), available at http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-
40402021
71
June 22, 2017
72
S. Sharma, DSP AyubPandith lynched in Srinagar: Barbaric event shows Kashmiris have abandoned cultural, religious
ethos, (23/06/2017), available at http://www.firstpost.com/india/dsp-ayub-pandith-lynched-in-srinagar-barbaric-event-shows-kashmiris-are-
stepping-away-from-their-cultural-religious-ethos-3738975.html,

43
a Pakistani agent of Al-Qaeda. Dy. S.P.Mr. Ayub Pundit started to make a video of the people
who were shouting in favour of Pakistan. The crowd observed to him doing so and attacked on
him Dy. S.P. taken out his pistol and fired three shots in his defence in the air but the crowed
snatched his pistol and attacked him with stones and swords till' the very end. 73

j. LYNCHING OF RAVINDER 74,

A poor E-rickshaw driver named Mr. Ravinder was killed by around 20 college going students as
he protested two tipsy understudies peeing on side by the road. Both of them proceeded to return
along-with their companions who subsequently killed him after beating with iron-roads and
stones enclosed by cloths. 75

k. LYNCHING OF AFRAZUL 76,

In December 2017, a video was viral from the district Rajasamand, of Rajasthan on the web
where Mohammed Afrazul was fiercely whipped and afterward set on fire subsequent to pouring
oil on the body. Afterwards he was slaughtered in view of adoration Jihad. One person named
Shambhu-Lal-Reger was totally unremorseful for the offense and expressed that he wants to
execute Hafiz Saeed in a similar way. This video was recorded by his nephew aged14-years. 77

l. LYNCHING OF RAJESH 78,

Conflicts were expanding in the territory of Thiruvanantapuram in Kerala particularly in between


RSS (BJP) part & CPM part. There a savagery conflict occurred which finished with demise of
an old person follower of RSS, named Mr. Rajesh. 79

73
R. Vyas, Srinagar DSP lynching case: J&K police arrest 20 accused in killing of DSP AyubPandith,(24/07/2017), Times of India,
available at https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/srinagar-dsp-lynching-case-jk-police-arrest-20-accused-in-killing-of-dsp-ayub-
pandith/articleshow/59734428.cms
74
2017
75
P. Rebbapragada, Delhi e-rickshaw driver killed: Rising mob rage incidents at DU’s North campus are a worrying trend, First
Post, (28/06/2017), available at http://www.first post.com/india/delhi-e-rickshaw-driver-killed-risingmob-rage-incidents-at-dus-north-campus-
are-aworrying-trend-3514707.html
76
2017
77
K. Srivastava, Fourth Rajasthan lynching demonstrates indoctrination of hate, (9/12/2017), available
at http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/fourth-rajasthan-lynching-demonstrates-indoctrination-of-hate-4975098/
78
2017

44
A. “May 10-11, 2018 Tamil Nadu”

“Two instances of lynching were accounted for in a range of 24 hours in Tamil Nadu. In the
primary episode, a man has pounded the life out of and swung from a scaffold in Plicate on
doubt that he was a youngster lifter. In the other occurrence, a 60-year-elderly person was
lynched for giving "remote chocolates" to youngsters in the Tiruvannamalai area. Tamil Nadu
police said that phony messages flowing on WhatsApp prompted the twin-lynching. The
messages asked local people not to believe migrants asserting that they were a piece of youngster
lifting pack”. 80

B. “May 24, 2018 Telangana”

“Two separate episodes of horde lynching were accounted for from Telangana on May 24 - one
each from Nizamabad and Yadadri locale. They were executed on the doubt of being youngster
ruffians as messages were being circled on WhatsApp asserted in this way, police said. The man
murdered in Nizamabad was there to meet a family member yet got anxious when he was gone
up against by a crowd. His answers didn't fulfil a furrier crowd and were lynched”.

C. “May 25, 2018 Karnataka”

“A horde lynched a 26-year-elderly person on the doubt of youngster lifting. The video of
lynching did adjust via web-based networking media demonstrating the injured individual being
hauled by two men in the roads of Bengaluru's Chamrajpet region. Police said that bits of gossip
were doing adjusts via web-based networking media about a posse of kid lifters being dynamic
in Bengaluru”.

D. “May 28, 2018 Andhra Pradesh”

“A transgender was lynched by a crowd of more than 500 individuals on doubt of being a piece
of a kid lifting pack. The episode occurred in the old Hyderabad city. Police said that transgender
had come to Hyderabad from Mahbub Nagar area during Ramzan. They were seen asking in the
old city zone”. Simultaneously, a message had circulated the web via web-based networking

79
FP Staff, Kerala political killings: ArunJaitley visits slain RSS worker’s family in Thiruvananthapuram, CPM stages
protest, (06/08/2017), available at http://www.firstpost.com/politics/kerala-political-killings-arun-jaitley-visits-killed-rss-workers-family-in-
thiruvananthapuram-cpm-stages-protest-3899629.html
80
https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/16-lynchings-in-2-months-is-social-media-the-ne-serial-killer-1275182-2018-0702

45
media guaranteeing that the Pardhi group was dynamic in Hyderabad. It asserted that the
individuals from the posse were seizing youngsters and executing them to gather their organs.

E. “June 8, 2018 Maharashtra”

“Two men were pounded the life out of by a horde in Aurangabad locale of Maharashtra. Police
said that the lynching was activated by counterfeit messages available for use on WhatsApp. The
residents assaulted the unfortunate casualties on doubt of being looters”.

F. “June 8, 2018 Assam”

“Two men were lynched in Assam's KarbiAnglong area on June 8. Exploited people recognized
as Nilotpal Das and Abhijeet Nath had gone to Kangthilangso, a cookout spot in KarbiAnglong.
They were hit by bamboo posts and wooden sticks by a furious crowd. They were halted by a
gathering of residents at Panjuri on their way back and lynched. More than 70 people were
captured by Assam Police for homicide and spreading bits of gossip via web-based networking
media”.

G. “June 13, 2018 West Bengal”

“A man was lynched in West Bengal's Malda locale on doubt of being a youngster lifter. He was
attached to an electric post and pounded the life out of. The man was allegedly destitute and
froze when he was stood up to by an irate crowd”.

H. “June 19, 2018 Uttar Pradesh”

“A man was lynched in Hapur locale of Uttar Pradesh following gossipy tidbits about dairy
animals’ butcher. Police at first denied the bovine butcher point. However, later recordings
surfaced purportedly showing a crowd pummeling a man and compelling him to admit to having
butchered a dairy animal. Police conceded that there were gossipy tidbits that the occurrence was
a result of a bovine butcher. The lynching likewise became a web sensation via web-based
81
networking media”.

81
https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/16-lynchings-in-2-months-is-social-media-the-ne-serial-killer-1275182-2018-0702

46
I. “June 22, 2018 Chhattisgarh”

“An unidentified man was purportedly pounded the life out of by a crowd in Chhattisgarh's
Sarguja locale. The assailants speculated the injured individual to be a kid lifter. The man had
landed at the Mendrakla town, where he was lynched, just hours sooner. Police said that bits of
gossip regarding a pack of kid lifters twirling in the territory because of web-based social
networking”.

J. “June 26, 2018 Gujarat”

“A 40-year-elderly person was pounded the life out of by a crowd of around 30 individuals in
Ahmadabad on the doubt of being a youngster lifter. In another occurrence, a 45-year-elderly
person was ambushed in Surat or a similar explanation. The lady was going to a family work.
She had ventured out to purchase inflatable for her three-year-old little girl when she was
ambushed by a horde that pulled her kid away from her. Following the Ahmadabad lynching,
Gujarat Police gave a warning to admonition individuals against taking law in their grasp and
asking them not to accept web-based life gossipy titbits about kid lifting groups”. 82

K. “June 28-29, 2018 Tripura”

“Three separate lynching cases were accounted for from Tripura - all on the doubt of being
youngster lifters. The occurrences occurred in three distinct regions of Tripura. The exploited
people were a lady, a vendor from Uttar Pradesh and a man procured by the Tripura government
to battle gossip-mongering. Following the occurrences of lynching, Tripura DGP AK Shukla”
stated, "It has been seen that SMS, WhatsApp, and internet-based life stages, for example,
Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are as a rule broadly utilized for transmission of phony pictures
and recordings just as instant messages which can affect savagery in the state at a bigger rate”.

L. “July 1, 2018 Maharashtra”

“The five individuals slaughtered by townspeople in Maharashtra's Dhule area were associated to
be part with a group of youngster lifters. Police said that there were gossipy tidbits for as long as
hardly any days via web-based networking media that a pack of kid lifters was dynamic in the

82
https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/16-lynchings-in-2-months-is-social-media-the-ne-serial-killer-1275182-2018-0702.

47
region. That day a, rationally upset lady was attached to a shaft and tormented by a town horde in
Assam's Sonitpur area, suspecting her to be a kid lifter. Two transient workers endure a
comparative endeavour in Chennai on Sunday. They were whipped by a horde on doubt of being
youngster lifters”.

M. Agitation against CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act), 2019

In 2019 the Central Govt. of India passed the Bill and amended the Part- II of the Constitution
deals with citizenship to provide citizenship to those minority communities of the Pakistan,
Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan who are victims due to religious reasons but excluding
Muslims; some political parties were against the Bill as according to them it is discriminatory as
not including Muslims. Many politicians mis-interpreted the Bill and supported Muslims to raise
their voice against the Govt. at many places in entire country including Shahin Bagh, New Delhi
where protest continued for several months. During this incidents of violence were committed by
the supporters of the Bill and by the persons who were against the Bill; on 16 February 2020 the
agitation got violent and some person fired with revolver and injured many persons and a type of
mob violence started in which one constable and DSP of North East Delhi injured badly later on
the constable died due to injuries. After 22nd March 2020 due to corona virus pandemic the
lockdown was declared and the area of Shahin Bagh i.e. the Dharna place was removed by the
police force.

N. PALGHAR, MAHARASHTRA – LYNCHING 83

Three persons including two saints and one driver of the van were killed by the mob on midnight
of 16 April 2020 by alleging child lifters. Due to pandemic Covid-19, lockdown was declared in
entire country and for preventive measures all types of social activities including movement from
one place to another was strictly restricted, on 16 April 2020 two saints and their driver were
travelling for the Gujarat for crimination ceremony of a passed away saint but at Palghar, in
Maharashtra more than 100 people attacked on them as they think they were child lifters; there
were three police officers on the duty but they could not stop the mob and all the three persons

83
April, 2020

48
were brutally beaten up by the crowed until their death. 115 persons including 9 minor were
arrested for the heinous crime; the matter is pending and justice is still awaited. 84

2.4 IMPACTS OF MOB LYNCHING

There are various impact and effects of mob lynching.

2.4 (i) States Perspective

• Lynching is against the qualities maintained in the Constitution of India.


• Everyone has fundamental rights and happening of mob violence would be a diminishing
of the same.
• It has not any respect for lawfulness in the public arena.
• This may prompt the development of the sentiment of sub-patriotism.
• Radical and fanatics associations, for example, ISIS and so forth could take influence of
air made through such episodes

2.4 (ii) Societal Perspective

• By this way harmony of society and the possibility of unanimity in assorted variety
• It clearly indicates environment of majority v/s minority
• It disturbs standing, class/category and collective contempt.
• It builds the degree of household strife and consequent military rules.
• Such acts show loss of resilience in the public arena and individuals are being influenced
by feelings, partialities, and so forth.

2.4 (iii) Economic Perspective

• This impacts both remote and household speculation along these lines unfavourably
influencing sovereign appraisals. Numerous International offices cautioned India against
crowd lynching occurrences.
• It straightforwardly hampers inner movement which thus influences the economy.

84
The Times of India, 18-04-2020

49
• Large assets conveyed to handle such threats actuates additional weight on state-
exchequer.
• These episodes would prompt the specific conveyance of speculation which may affect
provincial equalization.

2.5 REASONS RESPONSSIBLE FOR MOB LYNCHING

There is high rise of mob lynching in India especially in Rajasthan, Western Utter Pradesh,
Madhya Pradesh and Bihar etc. Many innocent people have been brutally tortured and some lost
their lives for no crime at all. There are so many reasons of mob lynching such as robbery,
extortion, inter-caste marriage, rape, casteism, anti-nationalist, class conflict and political reason.
Mob lynching raises a question mark on the rule of law because a group of people themselves
become the law, judge and executioner.

2.5 (i) RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE

The Preamble of the Constitution of India declares it a secular state which means State has no its
own declared religion and it will protect and respect all religions equally. There is no difference
or discrimination between majority and minority of followers. Religion is a perplexing and
dangerous idea. Strict savagery in India incorporates demonstrations of brutality by devotees of
one strict gathering against supporters and foundations of another strict gathering, regularly
through revolting. Strict brutality in India has commonly included Hindus and Muslims, although
occurrences of savagery have additionally included nonbelievers, Christians, and Sikhs. There is
likewise a past filled with Muslim-Parsi riots.

In India the history of violence in the name of religion is not new and its story has been written
by blood of the so called religious peoples. Religious violence between Hindus and Muslims can
be recognized specially due to many reasons.

2.5 (ii) Rise of cow vigilante

According to Article 47 of the Constitution State Govt. has exclusive privilege to make any law
regarding the control or regulation of cow slaughter house or to make any regulation relating to
any trade of milk producing animals which means cow is considered as a sacred animal and State

50
shall protect to secure the religious feelings of Hindu community over the others; hence it
becomes a religious issue between Hindus and Muslims. “The murder of Akhlaq, attacks on
Muslims related to cow slaughter or smuggling rumours have increased. In October 2015, amid
protests spurred by rumours of cow slaughtering, a truck was attacked with a petrol bomb, killing
one Muslim man in Jammu and Kashmir State. In March 2016, two Muslims were killed and
hanged in the tribal state of Jharkhand after being accused of smuggling cows”. It is also a matter
of dispute that Govt. is protecting or restricting some activities related to animals by adopting the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, it started another rush of dairy animals vigilante in the
nation.

2.5 (iii) Personal Laws

Individuals of India have a place with various religions and beliefs. They are represented by
various arrangements of individual laws regarding issues identifying with family undertakings,
i.e., marriage, separate, progression, and so on. “Personal laws are based on religion and for
better social arrangements of assigned practices, ethics, perspectives, writings, blessed spots,
predictions, morals, or associations that relate mankind to powerful, supernatural, or
otherworldly components. There are an expected 10,000 unmistakable religions around the
world; however, about 84% of the total population is associated with one of the five biggest
religion gatherings, to be specific Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism, Buddhism or types of
people religion”. Personal laws of Hindus and Muslims are very complicated and totally opposite
to each other sometimes their beliefs, faith and ideology becomes the reason of mob violence i.e.
beef eating, different methods of worships, marriage, wearing etc..

2.5 (iv) Marriage


Every section of the society has their own personal laws related to marriage, divorce, adoption
and maintenance etc. but sometimes marriages between two different followers becomes the very
reason of mob violence as there is no provision in any religion for such type of marriages, every
religion is limited to their own boundaries and whenever such boundaries are crossed by couples
due to love marriage becomes the reason of violence by their parents, relatives, society members
and spiritual leaders.

51
“The right to choose, if, when and whom to marry, is a fundamental human right. It is guaranteed
by most human rights instruments. Provisions of the Indian Constitution on non-discrimination
on the basis of sex, equal protection of law, equality before law and the protection of life and
personal liberty, safeguard this right. In other words, the introduction of modern concepts like
adulthood and sanctity given to individual rights has legally turned the individual settlement of
marriage between two consenting heterosexual adults to be legitimate”.

2.5 (v) Inter - Religious Marriage


According to personal laws Inter – Religious marriage is considered as void but such type of
marriage can be validly performed under the Special marriage Act, 1954. Whenever inter
religious marriage takes place in the society various conflicts also arises in the life of wedded
couples. The social institutions and their leaders like members of Khap Panchayats, Padri of
Church or Maulvi of a Masjid becomes alert and active and pronounce ‘Orders’ or ‘Fatwa’ even
against the law of the land or resulting in violence.
Another issue which trending nowadays is ‘Love Jihad’ in which it is alleged that the Muslim
men used to trap Hindu girls in the name of marriage for molestation, increasing their population
or to lower the honour of Hindus in the society, sometimes it is also allegedly blamed that after
marriage girls becomes subject to human trafficking and available for sale in foreign countries
where they can be used for prostitution or even killed and their body parts are used to sell
illegally in the hospitals or easily available with the dealers of human organs. Although, all the
allegations stated above may not be true but cannot be denied in total and such type of incidents
becomes the reason of violence or turned into mob lynching and destroys harmony between two
communities in the society.

2.5 (vi) Inter-cast Marriage and Honour Killing


The concept of inter cast marriage is not new in the Indian society even after various conflicts
and challenges it is not a barrier for the couples who don’t care of such ridicules religious beliefs.
But the so called leaders of the society never accept such changes and it is the reason that “every
one of the papers is nowadays loaded up with the assault or murder of the young ladies for
opposing the khap rule of the wedding inside a similar sub-position. These killings are given
shape by the heartless principles of the khap framework which removes their lives with primitive

52
savagery. The female who turns into the injured individual to it is regularly assaulted, stoned,
consumed or pounded the life out of, cut, cut at the throat, executed, suffocated gradually or even
compelled to end it all”. This is done for the sake of respect. These killings have been expanding
for the most part in town zones like Haryana, Punjab and western Uttar Pradesh. Some of the
cases of honour killing are Monica and Rinku, Haryana, Sivakumar and Megala Tamilnadu and
Ravinder, Jhajjar district Haryana.

2.5 (vii) Rumours of child lifters/kidnapers

Bits of gossip about kid criminals demonstrated to a start point for horde viciousness, where the
social media like WhatsApp or Facebook video clips were coursed Gujarat, Telangana, Orissa,
West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Tripura and Karnataka. This guaranteed a few lives on household
guests, rationally unhinged people groups and induced various horde assaults. As indicated by
different reports, in any event 20 people have been killed and a few harmed in episodes of horde
viciousness started by gossipy titbits about youngster abducting in 10 states for as far back as a
quarter of a year.

2.5 (viii) Fake and Hate News on social platform

“Messages warning of renewed mob violence hit social media recently as New Delhi reeled from
the worst violence it has seen in over a decade, with riots that left at least 50 people dead and 300
injured. Police went to the sites of reported conflict to conduct their own investigations and
temporarily shut down multiple Delhi metro stations following the reports of street clashes and
people shouting in trains”.
"It was a long night, and we did everything possible to ensure there were no flare-ups based on
this false information," said “Delhi Police spokesman MS Randhawa”.

2.5 (ix) Provocation of violence through messaging apps


“The continuation of such rumours through social media is not a new phenomenon in India, and,
over the past decade, India has seen multiple violent incidents triggered by online posts.
In 2012, during what became known as the "North-eastern exodus," thousands of people hailing
from north-eastern India boarded trains from Bangalore in southern India to Guwahati, following
posts suggesting violent attacks on north-eastern migrants”.

53
“In 2013, the Muzzaffarnagar riots in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, which left over 60 dead
and thousands displaced, were triggered by a fake video circulating on social media, which was
rumoured to depict a Muslim mob brutally murdering a Hindu youth”.
“In 2017, India also saw a wave of mob attacks and lynching of innocent people spurred by
online accusations of child abductions. At that time, people deemed to be "outsiders" were
targeted by large mobs accusing them of kidnapping children, after warnings circulated on
WhatsApp”.
2.5 (x) High Unemployment rates

Youth unemployment is a global phenomenon, although it is more pronounced in developing


countries. The phenomenon of crime has impacted negatively on the economic, social and
political life of the nation over time such that a growing level of security challenges now faces
the country. Violent crime such as armed robbery, kidnapping, cult wars, terrorism, pipe-line
have reached an alarming stage in the past two decades due from research findings to the high
rate of unemployment in the country.
There is a strong link between youth unemployment, whether voluntary or involuntary and
crime.

2.5 (xi) The silence of political class

In spite of the rising horde savagery, the political class and administration preceded with stays a
quiet observer. The human right activists, believes that there are few politicians behind the veil
or for nodding their mute ascent of horde violence since a large portion of the individuals who
administers the nation held or wedged the command through the political frameworks which
forceful & rough. In addition, they have fabricated their political profession spreading savagery
against the community belonging to minority, where the crowds believe enabled and solid. The
political class, aside from their standard judgment, they abstain from visiting the people in
question or their enduring families.

2.5 (xii) Ineffectiveness of administrative agencies

“There are a few set standards for handling a protest -- violent or peaceful -- through a)
government policy (b) administrative strategy and (c) enforcement of law through police,
paramilitary or the army depending on the situation on the ground”. “Depending on the nature of

54
a protest, the government gives policy options to the administration for handling a situation but
does not adopt any effective and preventive measures to prevent the mob lynching incidents”.

2.5 (xiii) Complicated and delayed justice system

“The judiciary is a co-equal branch of the government within India’s democratic and
constitutional framework, along with the legislature and the executive. The role of courts in
society is not merely to adjudicate disputes between parties, but also to protect the rights and
liberty of individuals. This is especially important in criminal matters, where an individual is
pitted against the might of the State”.
“The rule of law cannot exist without an effective judicial system, which is capable of enforcing
rights in a timely and proportionate manner in a way that inspires public confidence in the
administration of justice”.
“Unfortunately, apathy and ineffective governance have created barriers in accessing justice,
which has resulted in granting certain sections of society only limited access to the full range of
socio-economic and civil-political rights available. There are three immediately obvious barriers
to access. First, there are ‘external factors’ such as monetary, cultural or geographical barriers”,
Secondly, internal factors such as procedure technicalities which affect everyone in the system.

55
CHAPTER - III

EXISTING LAW IN INDIA COVERING CASES OF MOB LYNCHING

3.1 INTRODUCTION
A mob lynching occurs when a group of violent individuals kills another person without the
permission or sanction of the law. This equates to an extrajudicial punishment, such as public
hanging, used to exact retribution or teach a lesson to a suspected criminal. It's also known as
vigilantism, which occurs when a gang of self-appointed law enforcers takes the law into their
own hands while having no legal power. 85

There is no place in any civilized society for mob lynching. It cannot be justified the killing of a
person by another person or by mob whether the grounds are reasonable or not. It amounts to
destroy the whole system of law and order in the society when an incident of lynching takes
place in a civilised society. Generally, lynching is considered as a form of immediate
righteousness action against a crime by the mob even such mob has no authority to do the same
or not guided by law. 86

Lynching and like actions of brutality have no sanction of law, hence are considered inhumane
and illegal. Lynching is when a group of people kills someone they feel is guilty of a crime
without going through a legal process. In other words, lynching is a form of extrajudicial
punishment inflicted on an accused or suspected person by a mob acting without legal authority.
The legislature has established many measures to prevent mob lynchings.

3.2 CONSTITUTION’s PROTECTIVE PROVISIONS

The Constitution of India is considered as the parent law of the land and it is also Grundnorm
and grants validity to all local laws in the territory of India. It provides various fundamental
rights and freedoms to the citizens and also remedies for breach of these rights. The Indian
Constitution upholds the people's basic rights by providing a direct route to the Supreme Court

85
https://en.wikipedia.org/wikilynching
86
www.jurip.org

56
under Article 32 in the event of a violation of such rights, as well as the various High Courts
under Article 226 of the Constitution.

3.2 (i) ARTICLE 14 - EQUALITY BEFORE LAW

The Constitution's Article 14 guarantees equality before the law and equal protection under the
law. The 'Right to Equality' is managed by Article 14. It declares that "the State will not refuse to
any individual within the territory equality before the law or equal protection of the laws". As
indicated by this Article, Laws treats similarly all people with no segregation directly from the
Prime Minister to the constable. All people are dealt with similarly in similar conditions. 87

Equal protection is ensured under this Article to the victims of mob violence or even to the
culprits of the offence, law provides all legitimate opportunities without any discrimination.In
the Indira Nehru V. Raj Narian (Election Case), 88the Supreme Court ruled that Article 14, which
embodies the rule of law, is an essential component of the Indian Constitution.

3.2 (ii) ARTICLE 15 - PROHIBITION OF DISCRIMINATION

Article 15 of the Indian Constitution manages “Denial of Bias” which is based on sex, place of
birth, religion, rank, or race. It bargains as pursues.

Article 15 is a detailed extension of Article 14. Article 15's main requirement directs the State
not to oppress a person based on sex, place of birth, religion, rank, race, or any combination of
these factors. The subsequent condition forbids residents just as the States from making such
segregation as to access to shops, lodgings, and so on and all spots of open stimulation, of open
retreat, wells, tanks, streets and so forth.

The Supreme Court in State of Rajasthan V. Pratap Singh, AIR 1960 SC 1208, struck down a
warning issued under the Police Act of 1851 which pronounced certain regions as upset and
made the occupants of those territories endure the expense of extra police positioned there
however absolved all Harijans, and Muslims. The exclusion was given on the premise just of
'position' or 'religion' and thus was in opposition to Article 15(1).

87
Dr. Rao SuryRega, Lectures on Constitutional Law, 1st Edition, (Hyderabad) 2002, p. 38,
88
AIR 1975 SC 2299

57
3.2 (iii) FREEDOMS UNDER ARTICLE 19

All people have the right to free speech and expression under Article 19 (1) (a) of the
Constitution, with some limitations under clause (2). Anyone can speak out against any violence
or injustice. Article 19 (1) (b) provides “right to assemble peacefully and without arms”. That
implies residents of India have been offered the opportunity to collect and arrange an open
assembling or even parades individually will. It is also used as a weapon to pressurize the
government in case of any crime against a particular section in the society, but it is also
available with some restrictions people cannot exceed the limitations, its misuse is also against
the law as in case of agitation against Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in 2019 at Shahin
Bagh at Delhi such unlawful assemblies can be validly dispersed by the administration.

Article 19 (1) (g) guarantees the right to engage in any trade, commerce, business, or activity of
one's choosing, as long as the state does not impose any unjustifiable restrictionsbut it does not
mean one can do business against the policies of the Central or State Government, for example,
trading of beef is restricted by the various State Governments because cow is a sacred animal in
India, it touches sentiments of Hindu community and it is also one of the main reasons of mob
lynching so any person involved under such types of restricted businesses can be prosecuted
accordingly.

3.2 (iv) PROTECTION OF LIFE AND PERSONAL LIBERTY

Life and personal liberty are guaranteed by Article 21 of the Indian Constitution. It is the core of
essential rights. It says that “No person shall be deprived of his life and personal liberty except
procedure established by law”. 89Right to Life and Personal Liberty, guaranteed under Article 21
of the Constitution includes the following:

1. Right to Privacy
2. Right to Livelihood
3. Right to Dignity
4. Right to Education
5. Right to get Pollution-free Water and Air, etc.

89
Dr. Pandey J.N., Constitutional Law of India, 25th Edition, (Allahabad) 1993, p. 244

58
3.2 (v) RIGHT TO PROFESS, FAITH AND BELIEF
Many countries have declared their main religion in which the majority of the residents believe,
like Islamic countries (Pakistan, Bangladesh, UAE, Malaysia, etc.),Buddhist countries (Japan,
Sri Lanka, Thailand, Cambodia, etc.) but India has not made such type of declarations. The
Indian Constitution's Preamble declares India to be a secular state, meaning that citizens are free
to practise any religion they like; furthermore, Part III of the Indian Constitution safeguards
people' religious freedom. Article 25 states that people have the freedom to confess, believe, or
follow or not follow any religion. This indicates that everyone is protected by the law to pursue
his or her own path, regardless of whether he or she is a member of the majority or minority in
the state.
According to these fundamental rights, everyone is guaranteed to follow his religion or custom
as they wish, but in some parts of the country it does not seems so as various incidents took
place, which is directly or indirectly associated with religion where the majority dominates the
minority and ultimately results into violence, we have witnessed several communal violence,
such as violence against Kashmiri Pandits, Dalits, Muslims, Sikhs, etc.

3.2 (vi) DIRECTIVE PRINCIPLES OF STATE POLICY


According to Article 48 of the Constitution, each state government has the authority to impose
restrictions, control or monopoly over any trade or business in public interest specifically; make
strides for safeguarding and improving the animals and plant breeds and controlling the butcher,
of dairy animals and other mulch and draft steer. 90 Some persons belonging to certain
communities considered it against their belief as they eat cow beef and there is no prohibition in
their religion and it becomes the controversy between two different communities.
Gujarat State and Others v. National Human Rights Commission, 91according to the Supreme
Court, "public amicability is a symbol of majority rule governance". The Constitution in its
Preamble provides detailed provisions regarding secularism. Strict enthusiasts are made superior
to psychological militants who execute guiltless for no justifiable purpose in the general public
as mentioned earlier is administered according to the standard of law”.

90
See Article 48, Indian Constitution
91
(2009) 6 SCC 342

59
Numerous states have ordered stricter dairy animal insurance and transport laws as of late. For
instance, in March 2017, the State of Gujarat corrected the law regarding the security of cow and
prepared a detailed law to make the butcher of cow and calves culpable with life detainment.
Furthermore, in the State of Chhattisgarh, the chief minister of BJP party Sri Raman Singh, taken
steps to “punish any individual whosoever butchers dairy animals, demonstrating a potential
92
development towards stricter bovine laws there. All state dairy animal assurance laws make
criminal offenses, the vast majority of a cognizable and non-bailable kind and for the most part
have unprecedented arrangements”.

3.3 LAWS AGAINST MOB VIOLENCE IN THE INDIAN PENAL CODE, 1860

The legitimate position and statute identified with horde savagery in connection to lynching, and
so on is completely clear. The Apex Court has properly separated between the issues of open
request, lawfulness, security and safety of the nation. It is considered as a milestone instance the
efforts of Sri Ram Manohar Lohiya 93 and afterwards emphasized in the ongoing instance of
Shreya Singhal 94, that a comparative activity might be basics of dispute in both open request and
lawfulness circumstance when it mirrors certain shades of unsettling influence to society in
general and may strain open harmony and its serenity in opposition to just a break of a law which
brings about the encroachment of peace condition. Also, terms like a horde, lynching, crowd
lynching, moment equity, sports activities, and so on are not unmistakably characterized
prompting the circumstance of equivocalness and mistakes in translation of the issue close by.
Right now, instances of crowd lynching and different episodes identified with moment equity are
95
attempted under area 34, 120B, 147, 148, 149, 302, 307, 323, 325, and 341 of IPC.

Indian penal code has arrangements, for example, unlawful assembly 96 ,common intention 97 ,
rioting 98 , hurt 99 , grievous hurt 100 , culpable homicide 101 , and murder. 102 These arrangements
appear to be adequate on the paper, yet the handy outcome isn't the equivalent.

92
Deccan Chronicle. 2017. “will hang anyone how kills a cow: Chhattisgarh CM”. 1ST April, 2017, available at
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/current-affairs/010417/will-hang-anyone-who-kills-a-cow-chattisgarh-cm-raman-singh.html.
93
1966 AIR 740, 1966 SCR (1) 709
94
AIR 2015 SC 1523
95
Gupta Aman, “MOB LYNCHING, THE CONUNDRUM OF INSTANT JUSTICE”, The World Journal on Juristic Polity, 2018, p. 3.
96
Section-141, the Indian Penal Code, 1860
97
Section-34, the Indian Penal Code, 1860
98
Section-146, the Indian Penal Code, 1860
99
Section-319, the Indian Penal Code, 1860

60
“Sec. 302 of IPC characterizes discipline for homicide. It expresses that anyone who executes
murder will be rebuffed with capital punishment or detainment forever and will likewise be
subject to the imposition of fine”. 103

“Sec. 304 of IPC defines culpable homicide not amounting to murder. Whoever submits at fault
murder, not amounting to murder shall be punished with life imprisonment or imprisonment of
either term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.” 104

“Sec. 307 of IPC defines Attempt to Murder as whosoever does any demonstration with such
expectation or information, and under such conditions that, if he by that demonstration caused
passing, he would be blameworthy of homicide, will be rebuffed with the detainment of either
portrayal for a term which may reach out to ten years, and will likewise be at risk to fine and
whenever hurt is caused to any individual by such act, the wrongdoer will be at risk either to
detainment forever, or to such discipline as is hereinbefore referenced. At the point when any
individual culpable under this segment is under sentence of detainment forever, he may,
whenever hurt is caused, be rebuffed with death”. 105

“Sec. 323 of IPC provides provision for Punishment for deliberately causing hurt as whosoever
willfully causes hurt, will be rebuffed with the detainment of either portrayal for a term which
may stretch out to one year, or with fine which may reach out to one thousand rupees, or with
both.” 106

“Sec. 325 of IPC provides punishment for intentionally causing grievous hurt. Whoever, aside
from for the situation accommodated by area 335, intentionally causes offensive hurt will be
rebuffed with the detainment of either portrayal for a term which may reach out to seven years,
and will likewise be subject to fine.” 107

These disciplines may be pertinent for a gathering of individuals in crowd lynching gave
previously. These disciplines must be perused with the areas gave underneath.

100
Section-320, the Indian Penal Code, 1860
101
Section-299, the Indian Penal Code, 1860
102
Section-300, the Indian Penal Code, 1860
103
See Section 302, Indian Penal Code 1860
104
See Section 304, Indian Penal code 1860
105
See Section 307, Indian Penal code 1860
106
See Section 323, India Penal Code 1860
107
See Section 325, Indian Penal Code 1860

61
“Section 34 of IPC: - This segment characterizes regular goals. At the point when a criminal
demonstration is finished by a few people in the assistance of the regular expectation of all,
every one of such people is subject to that demonstration in a similar way as though it were
108
finished by only him”.

“Section 141 of IPC: - This area manages unlawful gathering. A get together of at least five
people is assigned an "unlawful gathering". On the off chance that a get together submits any
harm to anybody, all of them will go because of such unlawful gathering and they will be
indicted with the discipline accordingly.” 109

“Section 149 of IPC provides as every individual from unauthorized get together blameworthy of
offense submitted in the arraignment of basic item. On the off chance that an offense is
submitted by any individual from an unlawful gathering in the indictment of the regular object of
that get-together, or, for example, the individuals from that get together knew to probably be
submitted in the arrangement of that article, each individual who, at the hour of the submitting of
that offense, is an individual from a similar get-together, is blameworthy of that offense. If there
is a typical target of a horde, for instance, a crowd with the regular object of rebuffing the bovine
merchants will go under this segment”. 110

“Section 147 and 148 of IPC, in this segment, revolting and its discipline are characterized.
Whosoever is liable of revolting, having equipped with savage arms or anything, which can be
utilized as an arm for the commission of an offense, is probably going to complete a crime, will
be rebuffed with the detainment of either description for a term which may stretch out to three
111
years or with fine or with both. Sec. 120-B of IPC defines criminal conspiracy. On the off
chance that a gathering of individuals plots to submit an offense culpable with death or
detainment will be subject under this segment”. 112

Elements of Section 141:-


1. There must be a gathering of at least five people.
2. The regular object of such get together should be unlawful.

108
See Section 34, Indian Penal Code
109
See Section 141, Indian Penal Code
110
See Section 149, Indian Penal Code
111
See Section 147, 148, Indian Penal Code
112
See Section 120B, Indian Penal Code

62
3. The item should be one of the five articles indicated in area 141.
4. The objects of the unlawful gathering are:
(i) To use criminal force and exhibit criminal force against a union, a state government, or a
community worker, for example.
(ii) To oppose the execution of any law or any legitimate procedure;
(iii) To commit any act of vandalism, criminal trespass, or other wrongdoing;
(iv) By utilizing unlawful power or demonstrating criminal power to any individual to take
any individual or property or deny pleasure in an option to proceed of any individual or
the utilization of water or other incorporeal right and so on.;
(v) By utilizing or demonstrating criminal power to urge any individual to do an unlawful
demonstration.
5. A get-together that was not unlawful when it gathered but may, a while later, become an
unlawful get-together.

To oppose the execution of law or lawful procedure: Resistance by a get together to a lawful
procedure or execution of the law, for instance, executing a court's judgment or request goes
under execution of the law, hence, controlling the capture of Baba Ram Rahim if he appeared in
Haryana was an illegal gathering of people, and the authorities opted to scatter the unlawful
assembly under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

To submit an offense: where a gathering of at least 5 people having a typical object of playing
out a demonstration which is disallowed by law or structures an offense under Indian Penal Code
or other unique or Local Laws, such a get together would be unlawful get together.

Unlawful Assembly Discipline


(i) According to Section 143 of the I.P.C., anyone who is a member of an illegal gathering
113
will be punished with either a half-year of imprisonment, a fine, or both.
(ii) Anyone who joins an unlawful meeting with a savage weapon that is likely to cause harm
will be penalised with a long time of incarceration, a fine, or both, according to Section
144 of the I.P.C. 114

113
See Section 143, IPC

63
(iii)According to Section 145 of the I.P.C., anyone who joins or remains in an unlawful
gathering after being informed that it has been ordered to disperse will be punished by
imprisonment for a lengthy time, a fine, or both. 115
(iv) According to Section 149 of I.P.C., where a get together submits an offense then each
individual from that unlawful gathering, who realized such offense is probably going to
be submitted, will be blameworthy of that offense. Furthermore, be rebuffed for the term
116
the same concerning the offense.
3.4 UNDER THE CODE OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE, 1973

The provision for persons being prosecuted jointly for an offence where they are accused of the
same offence committed in the course of the same transaction that applies to two or more people
is found in Section 223 (a) of the Criminal Procedure Code of 1973. It has not demonstrated that
these legitimate arrangements have given solid lawful teeth for the fast equity to unfortunate
casualty. So without a particular law, our legal executive can't give quick alleviation and equity
to the person in question and his family in all cases. 117

SECTION 144 AND OTHERS PROVISIONS OF CRPC


This provision empowers a District Magistrate, a Sub-divisional Magistrate, or another
Executive Magistrate particularly engaged by the state government for this purpose to devise
strategies for circumstances in which he has adequate grounds to act and when prompt counter-
action or remedy is necessary in the face of a severe threat.
The object of area 144 is to pass a quick request ahead of time to counteract any captured peril or
to promptly give a cure if there is an occurrence of a crisis. Protection of harmony and serenity in
the public eye is the prime reason for the state government; subsequently, the administration
uncommonly engages official judges under 144 to make a prompt move in the event of crisis and
to give a quick cure in the accompanying three circumstances notice under in accordance with
Section 1 of Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, in order to avoid-
1. 1. Disturbance, annoyance, or harm to someone who is legally employed.
2. 2. A threat to human life, health, or safety.

114
See Section 144, IPC
115
See Section 145, IPC
116
See Section 149, IPC
117
See Section 223(a) Code of Criminal Procedure

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3. 3. A disturbance in the open air, such as a commotion or a brawl. 118
Section 144 CrPC is a reasonable open significance that discusses urgent cases of irritation or
secured risk. The requests under Section 144 CrPC are passed in urgent cases and stay in power
for a transitory time of two months.
119
On account of Dr. Anindya Gopal Mitra V. State, it was held that the measure of intensity
vested under the judge under area 144 is to suspend the activity of the privilege on specific
events and not to forbid it completely. For this situation, police officers would not offer
authorization to an ideological group (BJP), to hold open gatherings by precluding it under area
144 of the CrPC, the Hon'ble Calcutta High Court; subdued the request passed by the police
chief and said “The holding of gatherings couldn't be completely denied, however fundamental
confinements might be forced and preventive measures might be taken”.
As stated under Section 144 of the CrPC, provison 4, “No organization under this segment will
stay in power for over two months from the date of issuance, given the state government, if of
the assessment that it is important to do in the event of a crisis to anticipate risk to human life,
wellbeing or security or to counteract an uproar, then the state government may arrange the
justice to request to expand the time of pertinence of area 144, not more than the time of a half
year”.
As this area presents the full capacity to judge to make certain move to capture peril in the event
of a crisis, the Magistrate should use his intellect to determine if the problem is of this sort,
which requires a request under this segment, as generally an issue to scatter unlawful get together
making open irritation can be managed under segment 133 of CrPC. 120
In view of a justifiable concern for open harmony, Sections 129 to 132 of the Code of Criminal
Procedure, 1973 lay forth particular methods to scatter such unlawful assemblies.
Section 129 CrPC manages the dispersal of unlawful get-together or any get together of at least
five people liable to cause the unsettling influence of the open harmony.

Section130 engages the furnished power officials to scatter such get-together.

118
https://blog.ipleaders.in/ipc-144
119
1993 Crlj. 2096 (CAL)
120
https://blog.ipleaders.in/ipc-144

65
Section132 gives security against arraignment to the people for any demonstration implying to
be done under areas 129, 130 and 131. 121

Dispersal of Unlawful Assemblies


Unlawful Assemblies might be scattered through the accompanying methods:
1. Through Command (Section 129(1)
2. Use of Civil Force (Section 129(2)
3. Use of Armed Forces (Section 130)
4. Power of Armed Force Officers to utilize power (Section 131)

1. Through Command (Section 129(1):- Any Executive Magistrate or Officer in Charge of a


Police Headquarters, or, in the absence of such an authority, any officer not holding the
rank of Sub-Inspector, may order any unlawful gathering or any get-together of at least
five individuals prone to disturb the open harmony to disperse, and it will immediately be
the obligation of the individuals from such get together to scatter as needs are. In other
words, section 129(1) empowers any Executive Magistrate or Police Officer in charge of
a Police Station who is not a Sub-Inspector of Police to order any illegal gathering
disrupting the open peace.
2. Use of Civil Force (Section 129(2):- If, after being so instructed, any such gathering
doesn't scatter, the Executive Magistrate or Police Officer may turn to utilize common
power to scatter such get-together, and may take the help of a male individual to capture
or to bind such people shaping a piece of the get-together.
3. Use of Armed Forces (Section 130):- If the Unlawful Assembly could not be dispersed
significantly using common power, the Executive Magistrate in charge of the most
important post at the time may order the military to disperse it. The military must use as
little power as possible to do as little damage to individuals or property of such a
gathering as possible, and no Executive Magistrate can be consulted, to scatter such a
gathering by using military-provided authority.
4. Power of Armed Force Officers to utilize Force (Section 131):- The code likewise
engages the Gazetted Military Officer; if open security is imperilled Section 132 of the

121
Dr. Rao Surya Rega, Lecture on Criminal Procedure Code, Asia Law House, p. 55

66
Code gives insurance to people against arraignment for any demonstration indicating to
be done under Sections 129 to 131 aside from with the past approval of the
122
Government.
3.5 UNDER INDIAN EVIDENCE ACT, 1872

Section 114 of the Evidence Act will also rectify the presumption of the presence of certain
reality. Internal discussions underlined the "common sense obstacles" in reaching a different
enactment on lynching. “Past and ongoing encounters have demonstrated that a huge number of
laws just befuddles the reason at that point help the oppressed. The Indian Penal Code is
accessible to manage a wide range of offense done against a human. On the off chance that
appropriately revised the current laws would itself be able to accommodate harsher discipline to
those engaged with lynching”, said a senior government official, talking on the state of obscurity.
“Discipline for each wrongdoing submitted under the pretense of lynching is as of now
123
accessible under the Indian Penal Code”.

3.6 THE PROTECTION FROM LYNCHING BILL, 2017

The advancement of legislation necessitates a more inviting approach from individuals, and a
higher level of open interest serves as a good ally when it comes to authorizations. The goal and
scope of the Protection from Lynching Bill, 2017 are to protect the Constitutional rights of
defenceless individuals, to prevent mob violence, to allow some Courts to hold expedited
preliminary hearings on certain accusations, and to restore the rights of lynching victims and
their families, as well as to address matters linked to or incidental to lynching.The board of
trustees for the drafting of The Protection against Lynching Act, 2017 (Act) presented their
position and requested everyone assistance in gathering signatures and introducing the law as a
private part bill if it passes. It denounces the passing and damage of individual on account of the
lynching crowd.

The draft of Maanav Suraksha Kanoon (MASUKA), another law to address the danger of horde
lynching was revealed in New Delhi. The drafting board of trustees of the MASUKA, Chaired
by Sanjay Hegde a senior legal counsellor of the Supreme Court to give successful insurance to

122
Dr. Rao Surya Rega, Lecture on Criminal Procedure Code, Asia Law House, p. 57, 58
123
https://m.economictimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/mob-lynching-centr-may-amend-existing-laws/articlesshow/65300304.cms

67
defenseless people, rebuff demonstrations of lynching, and give restoration and remuneration to
unfortunate casualties and their families. 124

The MASUKA proposal is unquestionably a good piece of legislation that aims to curb horde
lynching, but it should also address the issue of slaughter. Both of the transgressions are
inextricably linked, and any special settlement must handle both of them.As a result, it is
desirable that the draught be revised, and that when it is converted into an Act by Parliament, the
offence of slaughter be included as well. 125

Benefits of MASUKA:

• Rehabilitation of injured individual's family.


• Compensation gave to the injured individual's clan.
• Quick equity through the establishment of unusual courts.
• Witness protection- Identity protection for anyone who witnessed the lynching.
• Assigning responsibility for crowd lynching incidents to the region's SHO would increase
police awareness and concern about horde lynching incidents.

3.7 ACTIONS TAKEN BY INDIA'S STATE GOVERNMENTS

(i) STATE OF GUJARAT

The Gujarat administration has not enacted any new legislation, but it has rendered crowd
lynching illegal under IPC Section 153 (A).According to the press release, the IPC section 153
(A) would also cover the spread of fake news via social media or any other channel/medium,
inflammatory addresses, and provocative or fearful writing/works that might impair people's
views.The Gujarat government has declared that crowd lynching would be regarded a "genuine
offence," and that any behaviour that incites such deaths would be tried under Indian Penal Code
Section 153 (A), which carries a three-year prison term.According to a statement made by the
government, under such cases, police judges and directors of police would be appointed as nodal
authorities in their respective zones, and it would be their obligation to monitor occurrences of
this nature.According to the statement, the IPC section 153 (A) would also cover the

124
https://www.thequint.com/news/2017/07/07/masuka-unveiled-anti-lynching
125
https://rostrumlegal.com/journal/mob-lynching-and-massacre-threats-to-the-nation-can-masuka-address-the-issue

68
dissemination of false news via web-based networking media or any other channel/medium,
inflammatory addresses, and provocative or offensive writing/works that might affect
conclusions.

The BJP administration also maintained that it was acting in accordance with the Supreme
Court's mandate in the Tehseen Poonawala v Union of India case, which said that no one has the
ability to take legislation into their own hands for the purpose of bovine assurance, empathy for
animals, or any other purpose. The three-judge bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A M
Khanwilkar, and Justice D Y Chandrachud had also requested Parliament to draught an
exceptional legislation to address the issues posed by vigilante squads. On June 26, a woman
126
accused of being a kidnapper was lynched in Ahmadabad by a mob.

(ii) THE MANIPUR PROTECTION FROM MOB VIOLENCE ORDINANCE, 2018

Article 21 of the Indian Constitution guarantees everyone the right to life and personal liberty, as
well as equal protection of the laws and equality before the law (Article 14), however there have
been a number of incidents in recent years that have resulted in people losing their lives,
livelihoods, and even their lives, andproperty owing to mob violence, and there is no particular
legislation that deals with such instances, thus a specific legislation capable of dealing with mob
violence was required. States has a type of hesitation in forming a special law and seeking
towards the Central Government to implement the same but at the central level, it is not as soft
work that can be made easily that’s why some states have initiatively made some special laws or
passed Ordinances through Governors to cope with riots and other forms of mob violence.

Article 213 of the Constitution of India provides special power to the Governor of a State to pass
an Ordinance whenever it is required. Ordinances have the same effect, power, and applicability
as state laws. In 2018, the Governor of the Manipur State has used the same power and passed an
Ordinance for the protection of people and to make lynching a separate and punishable offence.

126
https://indianexpress.comarticle/cities/ahmedabad/gujrat-govt-brings-mob-lynching-under-ipc-section-153a-
5358534/lite/#referrer=https%3A2F%www.google.com&amp_tf=From%20%251%24s

69
The purpose of the Ordinance is to make lynching by mob a separate crime and to give sufficient
penalty for violence, so that particular law in this regard would instil dread in those who engage
in such acts and also to provide relief and rehabilitation to the victims and their family members
of mob violence or similar matters incidental or connected thereto.

The Ordinance provides various definitions and provisions dealing with mob violence; it defines
‘hostile environment’ which means a coercive environment created against the victim,
‘household’ means the family members,by blood, marriage, or adoption, are linked to each other;
‘mob' refers to a group of two or more people gathered for lynching; ‘lynching' refers to any act
of violence or aiding and abetting such an act; and ‘offensive material' refers to any material that
can be fairly regarded as having been designed to urge a crowd to lynch someone because of
their religion, caste, race, language, or birthplace, etc.; ‘victim’ refers to someone who has been
harmed physically, mentally, psychologically, or financially; the Ordinance also includes certain
crucial definitions.

The Bill contains IX Chapters among which Chapter – II provides, “duties of a nodal officer and
police officers. The State Government shall appoint a senior officer, not below the rank of
superintendent of police as Nodal Officer in each district to deal with the offences related to mob
violence and for his assistance state shall appoint Deputy Superintendent of Police and they shall
constitute a special task force to prevent mob violence. The Nodal Officer shall hold regular
meetings at least once a month. Every police officer shall maintain law and order in the area and
shall take all reasonable steps to prevent the cases of mob violence”.

Chapter – III provides, “the prevention of acts leading to lynching or mob violence. Every police
officer must take all reasonable steps to prevent any cases of mob violence in his jurisdiction; he
must make all reasonable attempts to identify violent criminals, collect information on the
probability of a lynching, and take all necessary steps to prevent it, including filing an FIR under
section 153-A of the IPC or any other applicable law, he may also use his authority and powers
as such given under section 129 of the CrPC”.

70
Chapter – IV of the Ordinance provides, “offences and punishment for the offence of mob
lynching. It provides that if any person by the action of a mob gets an injury or suffers hurt, the
offender shall be punished with imprisonment which could be upto seven years and with a fine
which may be upto three lakh rupees. Whereas the victim suffers grievous hurt the offender shall
be punished with ten years imprisonment and fine which may extend upto three lakh rupees and
if in any case, the victim of mob violence dies the offender or offenders as the case may be
punished with rigorous imprisonment for life and fine which may extend upto five lakh rupees. It
also provides five years imprisonment and fine for the conspirators and to the persons,
whosoever threatens a witness”.

Chapter – V deals with, “some other offences and punishments related to the mob violence such
as one year to three years imprisonment and fine upto rupees fifty thousand for dissemination by
any method or for causing damage to any property movable or immovable; the State Government
has the power to impose a collective fine for such offenses on such households who are liable
collectively to pay the same. This Chapter also provides punishment for false information or for
failure to provide information when required, for a term which may extend upto two years or
with a fine which may extend upto fifty thousand rupees or with both. The main and important
clause which distinguishes it from ordinary laws is its provision which prescribes imprisonment
upto three years and fine upto rupees fifty thousand for dereliction of duty by police officers”.

Chapter – VI deals, “with the investigation, prosecution and trial which permits to apply the
provisions of CrPC wherever it requires, it also provides that the offenses specified under this
Ordinance shall be cognizable, non-bailable and non-compoundable. The offences must be
investigated by senior police officers, not below the rank of Sub-Inspector and all the cases shall
be triable by the designated judges appointed by the State Government under this Ordinance.
This Chapter also provides various rights of the victims, his family members and witnesses, it
also gives provision for the establishment of a review committee which shall review the cases
and submit its report to the Director-General of Police”.

Chapter – VII provides, “relief, compensation and rehabilitation schemes for the victims and
witnesses or to their family members. It says that the compensation shall be given to the victim

71
or his family members within 30 days of the incident according to section 357-A of CrPC. The
state shall establish rehabilitation or relief camps at safe locations for all victims including their
security, medical treatment, with all requirements for living, education for children etc.”

The provision for appeal has been given under chapter VIII of the Ordinance which states, “that
right of appeal shall lie as a matter of right against any judgment, sentence or order, to the High
Court within 60 days from the orders, sentence or judgment”.

Chapter – IX authorise, “the State Government to delegate its powers or to remove any difficulty
by subsequent amendment, it also authorises to implement any other laws if necessary in
additionally and not in contravention with this Ordinance”.

The Ordinance passed by the Manipur provides various provisions to deal with the heinous crime
against the human being named mob lynching. It is a crime that is not previously defined
anywhere specifically to deal with crimes committed by crowd or mob, some states have taken
some initial steps to curb this challenging crime; challenging means mob has no face to identify
which makes it more complicated. All the laws passed by the Legislative or Ordinances passed to
deal with mob violence are not sufficient to eliminate, control or create fear in the eyes of
offenders. Now, it is required that there shall be a law which has uniform measures for dealing
with lynchings by mobs or violence and for this, it becomes necessary that the law must be
passed by the Central Government to washout this stigma from the Indian society.

(iii) THE RAJASTHAN PROTECTION FROM LYNCHING BILL, 2019

Although the Indian Constitution provides everyone the right to life, personal liberty, and equal
protection under the law; Many episodes of mob lynching in recent years have resulted in the
loss of livelihood, injuries, and deaths of people. In its judgement dated 17.7.2018 in Writ
Petition (Civil) No. 754/2016 Tehseen S. Poonawalla V. Union of India and Others, the Supreme
Court of India urged that laws be enacted in this respect. As a result, additional charges against
mob lynching, in addition to other offences under the Indian Penal Code, are recommended to
nip the evil in the bud and prevent the development of hate or encouragement to mob lynching.

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The State of Rajasthan has introduced legislation to provide efficient protection of vulnerable
individuals' constitutional rights, to criminalise lynching, to create designated courts for the
speedy trial of such offences, to provide for the rehabilitation of victims of mob lynching and
their families, and to provide for matters connected with or incidental thereto.

The Bill provides a detailed definition of some terms used in the Bill as ‘act of violence’,
authorities capable to try the offences are ‘DSP or ACP in metropolitan areas’, ‘hostile
environment’, under section 2(d) ‘lynching is defined as any act or series of acts of violence by a
mob on the basis of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth, language, dietary habits, sexual
orientation, political affiliation, ethnicity, or aiding, abetting, or attempting an act of violence on
the basis of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth, language, dietetic practises, sexual
orientation, political affiliation, ethnicity, or ethnicity, whether spontaneous or planned. A'mob'
is a group of two or more people. Many other terms have been cleared by the Bill such as
‘offensive material’, ‘Rajasthan victim compensation scheme’, ‘victim’, ‘witness’ and many
more.

Chapter – II provides, “detailed provisions for the duties of Nodal Officers, Police Officers and
District Magistrate. Under Section 3(1) Director General of Police shall appoint a State
Coordinator to prevent lynching who is the officer not below the rank of Inspector General of
Police”.

(2) Every District Superintendent of Police is the District Coordinator, who is helped by one of
the district's Deputy Superintendents of Police in preventing lynchings and mob violence.

Under Section – 4 “every police officer in charge in an area shall take all reasonable steps to
prevent any act of lynching including its incitement and commission”.
Section - 5 provides, “the duties of District Magistrate as (1) whenever the District Magistrate
has reason to believe that in any area within his jurisdiction, a situation has arisen where there is
an apprehension of lynching, he may, by order in writing, prohibit any act which in his opinion is
likely to lead to the incitement and commission of an act of lynching”.

73
(2) The District Magistrate must do all in his power to avoid the establishment of a hostile
atmosphere directed toward an individual or group of persons who are the victims of such
actions.

Chapter – III provides, “Prevention of Acts leading to Lynching that it shall be the duty of every
police officer, in charge of a police station to take all reasonable steps to prevent any incident of
lynching, including its incitement, commission and possible spread in the area under his
jurisdiction and can exercise his authority on a mob to cause it to disperse. He shall register the
FIR under the relevant provisions of law and can exercise his authority under Section 129 of the
CrPC”.
Chapter – IV provides, “ punishment for lynching, under section 8 (a) of the Act- imprisonment
upto seven years and fine upto rupees one lakh is given for simple hurt to the victim by the act of
mob; clause (b) provides imprisonment upto ten years and fine upto rupees three lakh for
grievous hurt to the victim. Clause (c) provides where the act leads to the death of the victim,
shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for life and with fine which shall not be less than
one lakh rupees and may extend to five lakh rupees. Further, the Act also provides punishments
for conspiracy or abetment or aides or attempts to lynch or whosoever obstructs the legal
process. Act also prescribes provisions for investigation, prosecution and trial. It also
distinguishes cognizable and non-cognizable, bailable and non-bailable offences. It also provides
to the appointment of special courts to try the cases of mob lynching”.

The Act also provides, “protection, compensation and free legal aid to the victims and witnesses;
rehabilitation programmes, the establishment of relief camps, shelters, medical benefits, child
care services and educational facilities. For achieving the above purposes the Act also delegates
powers to various executive authorities to take appropriate actions to control the acts of mob
lynching”.

Although State has made all possible efforts to control the situations which could take effect
after the incident of mob lynchings, such as police authorities, trial process, duty Magistrates,
punishments or fine to offenders, Victims are entitled to compensation and rehabilitation
programmes, protection of witnesses and victims and their family members etc., all these

74
measures will take place after the event of mob lynching and not earlier than that. The state
cannot imagine as when, where and on what situation a crowed will take law and order into their
own hands; State cannot see the events to take place in future and all the provisions provided in
the Act are just measures which are ensured by the State that it will provide you so and so reliefs
or remedies if any incident of mob violence occurs and nothing more than that. Here, State seems
helpless as all possible efforts are given for taking actions after the happening of mob action; it is
just action and its reaction.
Everything is silent on the issue that can we create a situation or develop a society where no such
type of incidents takes place. It is also silent on the education of society about mob violence,
legal rights and training for officials to tackle the emergencies related to the crowd. There is
provision for the compensation to victims and their families or witnesses but from which account
it will be provided is not mentioned as there is no provision for the separate fund. For the better
and proper implementation of the Act, these loopholes shall be covered by the State
Governments.

(iv) UTTAR PRADESH COMBATING OF MOB LYNCHING BILL, 2019

The Rule of Law is the foundation of India's democracy. The right to life and liberty is
guaranteed by Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, which may only be taken away through legal
methods. Everyone in India, including the government, is required to follow the rule of law. If
the government cannot carry out a death sentence by public shooting because it is prohibited by
law, it cannot be carried out for any crime, no matter how deadly or horrible. Our country is
governed by the rule of law. This means that no one may be penalised unless they are acting
within the law's power. A person who commits a crime may incur legal repercussions. Despite
all of these safeguards in place for Indian residents, the incidence of mob lynchings continues to
rise. By lynching him, the crowd simply takes the law into its own hands and dispenses so-called
"justice".
In Uttar Pradesh, mob lynchings have occurred under the names of "Cow Vigilantes," "Gau
Rakshak," "Beef Lynching," "Cow Slaughter," "Cow Thieves," "Beef Smuggling," and "Cattle
Trader". A 52-year-old ironsmith was dragged from his house in the hamlet of Bisahara, District-
Gautam Budh Nagar, in Dadri (Uttar Pradesh) on September 20, 2015, after a local Hindu

75
Temple said he had murdered a cow deemed sacred by many Hindus. The victim was beaten to
death, and his son was also hurt.Another incident occurred in the district of Bulandshahr, when
the Police Outpost- Chingrawathi, Tehsil- Syana, was set on fire, killing Inspector Subodh
Kumar and injuring seven police officers, including the Circle Officer. The Uttar Pradesh
administration responded promptly to avoid the situation from deteriorating. On suspicion of
child lifting, a suspected thief, claimed kidnapping of a girl, and other allegations, mob lynchings
have occurred in different states.

It's crucial to keep in mind that our criminal law contains numerous mechanisms for punishing
wrongdoers, but the rising number of mob lynchings necessitates further attention by providing
for preventative and rehabilitation methods. It's also logical to believe that mob lynching victims
are driven to flee their homes. Miscreants drove residents of a specific group to abandon their
houses permanently after committing acts of violence in the Uttar Pradesh district of Muzaffar
Nagar.

After the execution of such offenses, the Uttar Pradesh state government introduced a law to
provide for the prevention of mob lynching, the protection of vulnerable individuals'
constitutional rights, the punishment of mob lynching, the formation of special tribunals for the
rapid trial of such crimes, and the rehabilitation of mob lynching victims, among other things.

The Bill contains IX Chapters, its Chapter – I provides, “ various definitions and provisions
dealing with mob violence; it defines ‘hostile environment’ which means a coercive environment
created against the victim, ‘mob’ means a group of two or more individuals assembled with a
common intention of lynching, ‘lynching’ means any act of violence or aiding, abetting such act
thereof, ‘offensive material’ means any material that can be reasonably construed to have been
made to incite a mob to lynch a person on the ground of religion, caste, race, language or place
of birth etc., ‘victim’ means any person who has suffered physical, mental, psychological or
monetary harm, some other important definitions have been given in the Bill witness etc”.

Chapter – II imposes, “duties of police officers and District Magistrate. Every police officer shall
take all reasonable steps to prevent any act of mob violence including its incitement and

76
commission. He shall take every possible action to the best of his ability to prevent the
commission of all offences under this Act. The District Magistrate has reason to believe that in
any area within his jurisdiction, a situation has arisen where there is an apprehension of lynching,
he may, by order in writing, prohibit any act which in his opinion is likely to lead to the
incitement and commission of an act of lynching. The District Magistrate shall take every
possible action to the best of his or her ability to prevent the creation of a hostile environment
against a person or group of persons which is targeted in such incidents”.

Chapter – III talk about, “prevention of acts leading to lynching and for this purpose it imposes a
duty of every police officer to take all reasonable steps to prevent any incident of mob violence,
identify the offenders, obtain information regarding the likelihood of an act of lynching and shall
discharge their duties without any delay in a fair, impartial and non-discriminatory manner. For
these objectives, a police officer shall register the FIR under relevant provisions of law against
the offenders and may use such powers and authority as vested under section 129 of CrPC”.

Chapter – IV deals with“offences and punishment for the offence of mob lynching. It provides
that if any person by the action of a mob gets an injury or suffers hurt, the offender shall be
punished with imprisonment which could be upto seven years and with a fine which may be upto
one lakh rupees. Whereas the victim suffers grievous hurt the offender shall be punished with ten
years imprisonment and fine which may extend upto three lakh rupees and if in any case, the
victim of mob violence dies the offender or offenders as the case may be punished with rigorous
imprisonment for life and fine which may extend upto five lakh rupees. It also provides the same
punishment and fine for the conspirators as if they had taken part in the actual incident of
lynching. It also provides punishment of five years imprisonment and fine for obstructing legal
process or threatens a witness”.

Chapter – V prescribes,“Some other offences and their punishments. It provides punishment for
dissemination of offensive material by any method, for a period of not less than one year, which
may be extended up to three years, and with a fine of rupees 50,000. It also sets penalty for a
guilty police officer for dereliction of duty, which includes a sentence of one year in jail, which
can be increased to three years, and a fine of up to Rs. 50,000. Furthermore, desertion of duty by

77
a District Magistrate is punishable by imprisonment for a term of one year, which may be
extended up to three years, and a fine of up to fifty thousand rupees.”

Chapter – VI provides, “investigation, prosecution and trial and for this purpose, the provisions
of CrPC shall apply to this Act. Unless otherwise provided all offences shall be cognizable, non-
bailable and non-compoundable. No police officer below the rank of an inspector shall
investigate any offence committed under this Act. The State Government shall appoint
Designated Judges to try offences punishable under this Act and shall follow the procedure for
the trial of warrant cases prescribed by the CrPC. This Chapter also provides rights of victims
and witnesses during the trial, such as the right to notice, free legal aid, protection and security, it
also gives provision for the establishment of a review committee which shall review the cases
and submit its report to the Director-General of Police”.

Chapter – VII provides, “relief, compensation and rehabilitation schemes for the victims and
witnesses or to their family members. It says that the compensation shall be given to the victim
or his family members within 30 days of the incident according to section 357-A of CrPC. The
state shall establish rehabilitation or relief camps at safe locations for all victims including their
security, medical treatment, with all requirements for living, education for children etc”.

The right of appeal as provided for in Chapter VIII of the Ordinance, which stipulates that any
judgement, sentence, or order may be appealed to the High Court as a matter of right within 60
days of the orders, sentence, or judgement.

Chapter – IX,authorise the State Government to delegate its powers or to remove any difficulty
by subsequent amendment, it also authorises to implement any other laws if necessary in
addition and not in contravention with this Act.

(v) THE WEST BENGAL PREVENTION OF LYNCHING BILL, 2019

Cooch Behar: Two people were lynched in the Cooch Behar region of W.B. on November
22, 2019, on suspicion of livestock theft, and 14 people were detained for their claimed

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involvement in the act, according to authorities. When Rabi ul Islam and Prakash Das were
ferrying two cows in a vehicle in theMathabanga region, it happened. As per authorities, a
mob surrounded the vehicle and unloaded the cows, which they alleged had been stolen from
the region a few days before and were being sent to livestock traffickers. The mob then
thrashed the two guys and set fire to their vehicle. They were taken to a hospital, where they
died from their injuries.

The West Bengal administration is prepared to present a new anti-lynching bill in the State
Assembly, which would punish criminals with up to life in jail and a fine of Rs 5 lakh, as well as
providing victims with free legal and medical assistance.

The West Bengal Prevention of Lynching Bill, 2019, proposes the formation of a special task
force with a state coordinator not below the rank of IG and nodal officers to prevent
lynchings.According to sources, the purpose of the bill, which is likely to be tabled on Friday, is
to "provide adequate protection of Constitutional rights of vulnerable citizens, as well as to
prevent and punish instances of lynching in the state."

Lynching is defined in the Bill as “any act or series of acts of violence or aiding, abetting or
attempting an act of violence, whether spontaneous or planned, by a mob (group of two or more
individuals) on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth, language, dietary
practices, sexual orientation, political affiliation, ethnicity or any other grounds”.

It proposes three tiers of punishment: maximum three years in prison and a fine of up to Rs 1
lakh if the behavior causes the sufferer “suffering hurt,” ten years in jail and a fine of up to Rs 3
lakh if the conduct gives the victim “grievous hurt,” and “stringent life imprisonment and fine
not less than Rs 1 lakh and up to Rs 5 lakh” if the victim dies.

As to the Apex Court's judgement, specific legislation against mob lynching stems from a directive
to Parliament to draught a stern, new statute to dissuade and deal swiftly with the perpetrators.
States were also advised to take firm action in the face of hostile social media posts.Furthermore,
anybody discovered to be a part of a lynching conspiracy or to have supported a lynching act will

79
be “punished in the same manner as if he had committed lynching himself,” according to the
Bill.

For those who disseminate, publish, or broadcast "offensive content," the bill proposes a
maximum one-year jail term and a punishment of Rs 50,000, as well as a possible three-year jail
term and a fee of Rs one lakh for those who create "a hostile atmosphere for a person or a group
of individuals."

Under the new Bill, victims would be protected by the state, and under the Legal Services
Authorities Act 1987, victims will be free to pick any advocate from the legal aid panel. In
addition, under the Compensation Scheme, the state would provide free medical care and
compensation.Unless there are "special circumstances," lynching cases will only be investigated
by police officers with the rank of inspector or above, according to the bill.

It also mandates nodal officials to examine posts on social media and communicate with district
and police commissioners' local intelligence units at least once a month to "identify the existence
of vigilantism, mob violence, or lynching inclinations."

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CHAPTER - IV
COMPARATIVE OVERVIEW OF THE LAW DEALING WITH MOB LYNCHING IN
INDIA AND OTHER COUNTRIES

4.1 INTRODUCTION
A talk by humanist James E. Cutler in 1905 kicked off his book Lynch Law: An Investigation
into the History of Lynching in the United States. The country's national wrongdoing has been
compared to a lynching, according to some. No other country with a high level of development
progress has a training programme in which hordes of people catch those involved in
wrongdoing and execute them without recourse to the law. Mobs and horde executions occur in
various countries, but in the United States, there is no such sequential structure of what might be
called well-known equity that can be suitably compared with lynch-law procedures. Around the
turn of the century, Cutler's contention that lynching was a distinctively American phenomenon
befitting an enlightened society loomed large in anti-lynching arguments. There was a cause to
be concerned. During the 1890s, the number of individuals killed by lynch law fluctuated
between one and 200 each year, with African Americans accounting for the vast majority of
victims. 127
Colonel Charles Lynch of Bedford County, Virginia, led unusual tribunals professing to combat
wildness as a rule and Loyalist tactics especially during the American Revolution, coining the
words lynching and lynch law.

In the nineteenth century, the term "lynching" became popular across the United States, refers to
mobs and vigilante organisations that act without legal authority to punish suspected criminals.
Different countries seemed to approve of the exceptional feature of American lynching by
integrating the American term into their tongues. When the American mobs lynched their
citizens, only a few countries learned of the word. Some examples of these nations are China,
Mexico and Italy. While Americans invented and popularized the term, Cutler, Wells, and others
demonstrated that there was no restraining infrastructure in place.

127
James E. Culter, Lynch-Law: An Investigation into the History of Lynching in the United States (New York: Arno Press, 1969), 1

81
In general, lynching has been used to reprimand without formal judicial procedure or authority,
usually by hanging, for a perceived transgression or to express bias. Lynching in America:
Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror, written by Bryan Wagner, lynchings were only
carried out as punishment for past misdeeds, it may be justifiable, though, if a black man met a
white man or did not provide the nicest possible greeting. Lynching for these reasons was
employed to maintain control over the underground network and to let African Americans
remember their position in society. In today's world, lynching can be viewed as a form of
punishment for a perceived offence or fanaticism that lacks a legal system. Even though every
act of cruelty is extremely harmful, it is vital to assess their distinctions and similarities to see if
128
the actions are best served by being lumped together.
Genuine lynchings and cutting-edge cruelty perpetrated upon black men, whether by the state
or a well-equipped mob, are crucial to comprehending black group participation. While the
phrase "lynching" is drenched in documented images that are useful in network setup, in this
specific case, we should consider the utility of naming the current passing of dark guys by
police or security personnel.
There are so many countries that have tried to pass the anti-lynching bill and made efforts to
prevent these incidents.

4.2 INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE


(i) HUMAN RIGHTS ACT, 1998
The United Kingdom's Human Rights Act gained royal assent on November 9, 1998, and went
into effect on October 2, 2000. Its primary goal was to incorporate the rights entrenched in the
European Convention on Human Rights into UK legislation. The legislation allows for a remedy
in a UK court for an infringement of convention rights rather than having to go to the European
Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

The Human Rights Act of 1998 establishes the fundamental rights and liberties to which all
citizens of the United Kingdom are entitled. Human Rights must be respected and protected by
all public authorities, courts, police, public-funded schools, and other groups engaging in public
activities. New legislation is enacted by Parliament following the European Convention on

128
Equal Justice Initiative. (2014) lynching in America: Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror|Equal Justice Initiative available at
http;//www.eji.org/lynchingamerica.

82
Human Rights' rights. In addition, courts interpret the law in a way that is consistent with
convention rights. People went to the European court for violations of human rights before the
Human Rights Act of 1998 was passed.

Rights guaranteed in the Act:


Article 2:Provides right to life and liberty;
Article 3: Prohibits any type of physical torture
Article 4: Prohibits forced labour and slavery;
Article 5: Provides the right to personal liberty and security
Article 6: Guarantees for a fair trial
Article 7: Advocates for no punishment without law
Article 8: Directs to respect for private and family life
Article 9: Confer's freedom of thought, conscience and religion
Article 10: Right to express
Article 11: Freedom of assembly and association
Article 12: Rightsrelated to matrimonial relations
Article 14: Prohibitsall types of discriminations

Protocol No. 1

Article 1: Protection of property


Article 2: Right to education
Article 3: Right to free elections

Protocol No. 2
Article 1: Abolition of the death penalty
Article 2: Death penalty in time of war
Handicap Specific cases

Article 2, Article 3, Article 5 - 8, and Article 14 of the Human Rights Act of 1998 are
commonly used in relation with disability.

83
Article 2 – Right to Life and Liberty

It was sought to argue in Pretty V. United Kingdom 129, that a ban on assisted suicide impacted
her right to life. The European Court of Human Rights ruled that life's privilege did not extend
to one side just to bite the dust.

Article 3 – “No one will be subjected to torture or other inhumane treatment that causes serious
mental or bodily pain.”

The European Court of Justice ruled in Vincent V. France 130that detaining a wheelchair client in
a facility where he couldn't exit his cell by his means constituted 'debasing treatment' under
Article 3 of the Act.

131
In Price V. State of the United Kingdom , the Court ruled that sending a handicapped woman
to prison without first attending to her needs was a breach of Article 3.

Article 5 – Everyone has the right to individual liberty and security. Nobody shall be denied
their freedom unless under the following circumstances and according to a legal system. Except
in the case of criminal conduct or mental disease, no one can be deprived of their liberty.

Consequently, the Court found in Johnson V. U.K 132, that there had been a rupture of Article
5(1) as Mr Johnson had been kept when it was obvious that he was never again experiencing a
perceived dysfunctional behaviour. Eminently this case doesn't help somebody who is living
with a perceived psychological instability. Most of the effective cases concern Article 5(4),
which states:

“Anyone who has been deprived of their liberty by illegal arrest or imprisonment will be eligible
to pursue processes in which the legality of their incarceration will be determined immediately
by a court, and their release will be sought if the imprisonment isn't lawful.” In HL V. UK 133the
European Court of Human Rights decided that an individual lacking limit's admittance to a
hospital for treatment for a psychological illness did not provide the protections necessary by
Article 5 under the precedent-based law precept of necessity.

129
(1997) 24 EHRR 423
130
(2006) 6253/03
131
(2001)5493/72
132
(1996) (119/1996/738/937)
133
(2004) 45508/99

84
The European Court of Justice ruled in Kolanis V. United Kingdom, 134that the inability to audit
detention constituted a violation of Article 5. (4). The European Courts have likewise chosen a
few significant cases since the consolidation of the HR Act, 1998.

In R. G. V. MHRT 135, it was held that a release could be so prohibitive as to add up to hardship
of freedom and along these lines, the specialists expected to guarantee that there were
procedural defends set up.

Article 8 – It includes measures for the individual's and his family's right to privacy. Unlike
Articles 2 and 3, Article 8 is a legally recognised right. That is right; it may be tampered with,
but only under specific circumstances. According to Article 8:

1. Everyone has the choice to be concerned with his or her own life, family, property, and
other connected matters.
2. Apart from what is required by law in a law-based society, such as a legitimate worry for
national security, open wellbeing, or the nation's monetary prosperity, or for the
counteractive action of disturbance or wrongdoing, there will be no blockage by open
consent with the use of this privilege, for the sake of ensuring one's well-being or ethics,
or the protection of others' rights and opportunities.'

The wording of Article 8(1) is broad, and it might apply to a wide range of situations. X, Y and
others V. The Netherlands 136 may be the finest representations of security.The European Court
of Human Rights said in The Netherlands that it extended to ensuringmental respectability.'
Before the introduction of the Human Rights Act of 1998, an open position's choice must be
tested in an English court on the off chance that it was procedurally uncalled for, ultra infection
(that is the individual that settled on the choice couldn't do as such, or on the off chance that it
was nonsensical).

The instance of Smith and Grady V., U.K 137., maybe best represents the challenges candidates
looked at in the EuropeanCourts. The case concerned the boycott of gay people in the military.
Albeit ready to win their case under Article 8, the candidates had bombed in their legal survey

134
(2005) 517/02)
135
[2004] EWHC 2193
136
(1985) 8 EHRR 235
137
(1999) 25154/94

85
case in the EuropeanCourts. The Govt. had attempted to legitimize the prohibition on grounds of
spirit in the military. The EuropeanCourts were not able to say that the legitimization was
silly. 138

(ii) UNITED STATE

a. NAACP

Between 1882 and 1968, white Americans in the United States voluntarily waged a campaign of
racial injustice against African Americans. In the southern states alone, there were at least 5,000
lynchings. Our administration held on with little discipline or structure, allowing savagery to
occur while remaining largely unconcerned about the issue of lynching. Because the
administration refused to give black people a voice, they needed one. The NAACP, unlike its
sister organisation and predecessor, the National Afro-American League, was considered by civil
rights pioneers of the day to be a less activist organisation (NAAL). The NAACP was the
forerunner of Dubois' Niagara Movement, which later became the NAACP. Control was
essential to the Niagara Movement. It was one of the most well-known social rights
organisations, with W.E.B. Dubois and William Trotter at the helm. In July 1905, the biggest
gathering took place. The group was a widely anticipated response to America's systematic
denial of human rights since Reconstruction ended. According to Philip Dray, there have been
few instances in the history of anti-lynching protection that has been more beneficial than the
establishment of the NAACP. With its simultaneous ideas that basic rights were unfairly denied
black people and that disruption was necessary to verify them, the organisation spoke to a soul of
resolution that had been lacking from the lives of high contrast Americans. 139The NAACP was
providing African Americans the platform they deserved. If they had a large following, they,
together with the Anti-Lynching Bureau, might put pressure on the administration to reform. The
NAACP merged the abolitionists' humanistic soul with the aggressor race awareness, bringing an
end to lengthy periods of white mistreatment of black people. The level of dread that black
residents experienced regularly is incredible. In any case, the NAACP wanted to change those
frames of mind and the way of life of the American individuals.

138
https://dls.or.uk>uploads>2016/12
139
https://wakespace.lib.wfu.edu>handle

86
The early NAACP is the focal specialist in numerous recorded clarifications for the change in
lynching legislative issues. Established in 1909, the NAACP was the main dark development
association. Various organisations, such as the Afro-American League and the Nigeria
Development, were forerunners and helped fill in as outlines, although they were little and
ephemeral. Different associations, for example, Booker T Washington's Tuskegee Institute, had
settlement is governmental issues and didn't firmly scrutinize lynching. Other development
entertainers, for example, Ida B Wells and her peers, were all the more inexactly sorted out. If
the shift in lynching governmental concerns stemmed from the activities of a well-organized
growth, the early NAACP would be the place to look. The NAACP could have been a major
motivator of advancement in the lynching debate for a variety of reasons. Developments can in
some cases essentially, and quickly, impact open talk on an issue through the infusion of a novel,
and exceptionally thunderous casing,

b. DYER ANTI-LYNCHING LAW 1918

As a result, lynching will be classified as a government crime, allowing the US to pursue such
occurrences. It asked that lynchers be prosecuted in a government court and that state authorities
who failed to prevent lynchings be indicted.

Representative Leonidas C. Dyer, a Republican from St. Louis, Missouri, initially introduced the
140
Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill in the United States House of Representatives in 1918. It was
intended to make lynching a criminal. In subsequent sessions of Congress, the Dyer Anti-
Lynching Bill was reintroduced and enacted by the United States House of Representatives on
January 26, 1922, but, a delay in the Senate was caused by Dixiecrats, who formulated a ground-
breaking obstruct that outstripped their level of popularity by discouraging blacks.

Attempts to pass comparative enactment were abandoned until the 1934 Costigan-Wagner
141
Bill. Despite subsequent bills, due to ground-breaking resistance from Southern Senators, the
142
United States Congress never abolished lynching.

140
Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States, Volume 65, Issue 2.Washington DC: Government Printing Office 1918. P.297
141
“NAACP History: Anti-Lynching Bill” www.naacp.org.Archived from the original on 2015-05-16
142
Masur, Louis P. (December 28, 2018). “Why it took a century to pass an anti-lynching law” The Guardian

87
The Senate did not adopt anti-lynching legislation until 2018, the Justice for Victims of
Lynching Act, on which the “house of representatives” took no action. In the southern and
border states, whites conducted lynchings against African-Americans.Between 1882 and 1951,
4,730 persons were lynched in the United States, with 3,437 being black and 1,293 being white,
according to Tuskegee Institute data. After the civil war, the first wave of lynchings erupted, but
they were put down by the Ku Klux Klan around 1870. The year 1892 saw the highest number of
lynchings. The first anti-lynching measure was proposed in Congress in 1900 by George Henry,
a black Republican from North Carolina, but it was rejected in committee. NACCP published a
report in April 1919 about the lynching that most of the cases related to African American and
2,500 lynchings happened from 1889 to 1918. Leonidas C. Dyer had been aware of the high
prevalence of lynching in the South as a result of this report, as well as the administration's
inability to pursue the perpetrator. As of February 24, 2019, it has been passed by the House of
Representatives or signed by the President. The bill declared lynching to be a government-
sanctioned crime. There were numerous provisions relating to prosecuting the perpetrator of
lynching.

(a) Any state or local official who can protect the individual and punish the perpetrator in his
authority but fails to do so faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison, a $5,000
fine, or both.
(b) At least 5 years in jail for any individual who took part in a lynching, regardless of
whether they were a normal resident or the authority answerable for protecting the person
in question.
(c) A $10,000 fee must be paid by the province in which the lynching happened, to be
distributed to the wounded person's family or friends, or the US government if the
unlucky fatality has no relatives.

Furthermore, the law recommended activities of uncommon conditions:

(a) Officials who fail to provide similar protection to all people may be prosecuted in
government court.

88
(b) Foreign visitors were not exempt from this legislation, and they were to be prosecuted
under the state or domain laws, just as they were under the analogous laws. 143
c. CIVIL RIGHTS ACT 1964

The Civil Rights Act was enacted in the United States with the goal of ending discrimination
based on race, colour, religion, or nationality in any location. It was dubbed the most important
civil rights statute in the United States since reconstruction (1865-1877) and was a cornerstone of
the American Civil Rights movement. This statute has a lot of provisions added to it.

Title 1 provided equal rights of the vote without any registration and biased procedure against
minorities.

Title 2 prohibited discrimination in place of public.

Title7 made it illegal for trade unions, schools, and companies involved in interstate commerce
or doing business with the federal government to discriminate.

To enforce these provisions Equal Opportunity Commission (EEOC) established.

Under the law, a security professional who fails to make reasonable attempts to anticipate an
assault or catch the culprit might face up to five years in jail and a fine of up to N 500,000
(US$1400).

A security official who commits or plans an extrajudicial assault will be sentenced to death.
Those who failed to evade custody would face expulsion and 15 years in prison. 144

d. ANTI-LYNCHING BILL 2018

The campaign against lynching started in 1892when Ida B. Wells., a social critic and journalist,in
1862, wrote "Southern Horrors," even though he was born a slave. According to a report
provided by the NACCP, the United States is the only sophisticated nation whose government
has permitted lynching for 30 years (1889-1919). As a result of these efforts, Rep. Leonidas C.

143
https://en.mwikipedia.org/wiki/Dyer_Anti-Lynching_Bill
144
https://blog.ipleaders.in/lynching-united-states-laws/

89
Dyer, a Republican from Missouri, introduced the first anti-lynching legislation in 1918, which
said that anybody victimised by a mob should be afforded equal protection under the law.

The NACCP published an article in its journal that discusses the atrocities of lynching as well as
the laws and policies in place to prevent it. In 1930, the NACCP took a further step. New efforts
to establish federal anti-lynching legislation were established under the direction of Walter
White. Bills were passed again in 1937 and 1940. The atrocities of lynching were becoming
more well known at the time. New York had two anti-lynching art exhibitions in 1935. There
were so many images that described the imagined lynching scene, but besides these efforts
legislation failed to stop the lynching.

Lynching has been a kind of racial terrorism in the United States for more than seven decades, to
terrorise and control African Americans after slavery ended. The passage of federal legislation
was a significant step toward admitting the decade's suffering and the federal government's
inability to intervene in 2018. On December 21, 2018, the Senate overwhelmingly passed the
Justice for Lynching Victims Act of 2018. Senators Cory Booker, Kamla Haris, and Tim Scott,
all of whom are black, proposed this measure in June. As a federal hate crime, this legislation
defined lynching as "willfully causing bodily damage to any other person based on race, colour,
religion, or national of any origin."When assessing the sentence for persons guilty of such
offences, this bill allows courts to impose extra sentences and retain them on top of any previous
charges. However, because the bill was not passed by the House, it perished.

This bill provides punishment that if two or more person are convicted of killing someone based
on race, colour, religion and nation of any region can be punished to life imprisonment and if
lynching victim faces bodily injury then the perpetrator can be punished not less than 10 years
imprisonment.

e. JIM EMMETT TILL ANTI-LYNCHING BILL 2020

Since 1900, both the House and Senate have failed to adopt anti-lynching legislation. At least
1900 members of Congress have attempted to introduce legislation making lynching a federal
felony, but measures have been repeatedly stopped and disregarded.

90
However, on February 26, 2020, Senator Bobby Rush, a Democrat from Illinois, approved the
JIM EMMETT TILL ANTI LYNCHING BILL. The Justice for Lynching Victims Act has been
updated in this bill. The measure makes lynching a hate crime committed by a group of people
rather than a single person. "Whoever conspires with another person to violate section 245, 247,
or 249 of this chapter or section 901 of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 must be penalised for a
maximum term of imprisonment not less than ten years," according to Chapter 13 of Title 18,
United States Code.

(iii) THE ANTI-LYNCHING LAW OF 1928 IN VIRGINIA

This bill was a significant step forward in Virginia's efforts to curb racial violence. The statute
allowed the state to impose harsher penalties on regions that failed to report vigilante
murders. 145On March 14, 1928, Virginia senator Harry Flood Byrd Sr. signed the Virginia anti-
lynching statute, which was the first in the country to specifically label lynching as a form of
official misconduct. The bill's approval was the result of a battle conducted by Louis Isaac Jaffe,
the editorial manager of the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, who responded more vehemently than any
other white Virginian to an uptick in mob violence in the mid-1920s. Surprisingly, no white
person has ever been charged under the law with lynching an African-American. 146

In the twentieth century, Virginia had fewer African Americans lynched than any other southern
state, although less dynamic than somewhere else in the South, crowds in Virginia summarily
executed in any event seventy blacks somewhere in the range of 1880 and 1930. Just like the
case all through the remainder of the South, a bigger number of lynching happened during the
1890s, more people were murdered than in any other decade, and each subsequent decade
showed a decrease in the number of murders, despite a consistent increase in brutality. From
1906 to 1916, no lynchings were officially reported in Virginia; nonetheless, two individuals
were killed in 1917 and one in 1918 by mobs. 147

Between 1880 and 1930, history student Fitzhugh Brundage hypothesised that fewer lynchings
occurred in Virginia because the state's broad economy did not rely on the more coercive labour
control practises observed in the deep South, where single-crop farming commanded higher

145
https://blog.ipleaders.in/lynching-united-states-laws/
146
https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Antilynching_law_of_1928
147
Ibid

91
wages. In his investigation of lynching in Virginia and Georgia, he found that. Virginia
proprietors could bear to broaden a little level of autonomy to dark specialists; what's more, the
most displeased blacks had a simpler time relocating north just because of geological closeness.
Moreover, elites in Virginia restricted lynching as an interruption of social request similarly they
protested work turmoil. Thus, most whites who eventually upheld an enemy of lynching
resolution underlined a requirement for peace, not a regard for the privileges of African
Americans. 148

The lynching, as well as the inability to convict anyone, angered a large number of prominent
residents. A Pulitzer Prize-winning supporter of anti-lynching legislation, A Pulitzer Prize-
winning proponent of the firm enemy of lynching laws, Louis I. Jaffé, a supervisor of the
Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, was a Pulitzer Prize-winning proponent of the firm enemy of lynching
laws. Governor Byrd should "make each lynching an issue of direct state concern and arm the
Governor as boss law requirement official, with the unlimited capability to commence and indict
exams into lynching's and to utilise every power available to him to bring offenders to equity,"
he wrote in an August 29, 1926 article in the Pilot." After social occasion authoritative help and
making an enemy of lynching charge, Byrd tended to the General Assembly in the 1928
administrative session: "There is no reason for lynching in a State where the implementation of
the law in cases liable to incite crowd brutality has been quick and thorough. Endeavoured
assault in Virginia might be rebuffed by death, and juries rush to rebuff violations that once
instigated men to take the law in their very own hands." On March 14, 1928, Byrd signed the bill
into law. The legislation stated that everyone in a lynching crowd might be charged with
homicide, even if they did not physically carry out the act. The statute also allowed the Governor
to focus resources on discovering and prosecuting people in the crowd.

(iv) NIGERIANS HOSTILE TO LYNCHING BILL 2009

In Nigeria and Africa, mob lynching is not a new phenomenon. Nigeria isn't the first country to
attempt to pass anti-lynching legislation. All you have to do in Nigeria is cry "ola ole" (which
means "thief"), and homicides of persons will pile up to engulf those who have been accused to
death. In Nigeria, there was no official data on the number of mob lynchings. According to a
2014 poll, 43% of Nigerians had directly observed a lynch mob attack. Because it was difficult to
148
https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Antilynching_law_of_1928

92
pursue the guilty parties under the laws that spread murder and ambush in Nigeria, the country
needed to enact an anti-lynching statute in 2009 to maintain the legal standard and provide
equitable treatment. 149

(v) ANTI-JUNGLE JUSTICE AND OTHER RELATED OFFENCES BILL, 2015

The Nigerian National Assembly enacted a bill outlawing and safeguarding Nigerians against
lynching, mob action, extrajudicial killings, and other similar crimes, as follows:
1. The word "lynching" refers to a group of three or more persons acting together without
the authority of the law to kill someone as a punishment for or to prevent the commission
of some actual or claimed public offence.
2. A "mob action" is defined in this Act as a group of three or more individuals acting
together for the purpose of causing significant physical damage capable of depriving
someone of their life without the authority of the law as a punishment for or to prevent
the execution of any actual or claimed public violation.
3. When the word "riotous assemblage" is used in this Act, it refers to a group of three or
more individuals who act together to disturb the peace, destroy private and public
property, and cause serious physical damage capable of depriving someone of their life
without the authority of the law.
4. When the word "extrajudicial execution" is used in this Act, it refers to any physical act
or omission by a Security officer of the Federal Republic of Nigeria with the intent of
depriving any person of his life without the authority of law, whether by torture or
otherwise.
5. Under this Act, a "security officer" is any officer of the Nigerian Police Force, the Armed
Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Department of State Security Services, the
Nigerian Civil Defense, or any other officer of a paramilitary organisation created under
an Act of the National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
6. The phrase "court of competent jurisdiction" is used in this Act to refer to a High Court
or a Magistrate within the Judicial Division where a lynching, illegal killing by mob
action, disorderly gathering, or summary execution occurs.

149
https://blog.ipleaders.in/lynching-united-states-laws/

93
7. The word "offence" is used in this Conduct to refer to any act or omission that subjects
the person who committed the act or made the omission to a punishment under the Act.
8. Any offence designated as a felony by law, or punished by death or imprisonment for
three years or more without a prior conviction, shall be referred to as a "felony" under
this Act.
9. Any person who loses his or her life as a consequence of a lynching by a crowd, mob
action, or unruly gathering commits a crime.
10. Any security officer of the Nigeria Police Force, the Armed Forces of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria, or any other paramilitary force who assassinates, deprives of life, or
engages in unlawful action against any individual inside the Federal Republic of Nigeria
without legal authorisation shall be guilty of a criminal offence.
11. Every state or local government must take the protection of every person's life seriously,
citizen and non-citizen, present within its jurisdiction, and shall do all possible within its
authority to avoid the death of such persons, native or non-native, as a result of lynching,
mob action, riotous assemblages, or summary executions.
12. If any state or local government fails to recognise, or refuses to give and preserve security
for the life of any person within its jurisdiction against a mob or disorderly gathering,
such State or Local Government will be held to have denied such person the equal
protection of the State's Laws as a result of such failure, neglect, or refusal, and to the
terminate the constitutionally mandated protection for residents of the Federal Republic
of Nigeria.
13. (a) Any state's Attorney General should investigate any illegal lynchings, violent protests,
or targeted executions that occur by security forces within the state has occurred be
empowered to commission criminal investigations and prosecutions of people believed to
be participants to such unlawful lynching or mob action.
(b) The Attorney General of the Federation shall be empowered to commission criminal
investigations and prosecutions of persons alleged to be parties to an unlawful killing or
lynching by a mob or extrajudicial killing by security officers within the Federal Capital
Territory of Abuja.

94
14. Any person or group identified as the primary organiser of a lynching, mob action, or
riotous assembly that results in the unlawful death of a citizen or non-citizen of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria shall face criminal charges.
15. Any person or persons found guilty by a court of competent jurisdiction of being the
primary perpetrator in the unlawful death of a citizen or non-citizen, by lynching, mob
action, or disorderly gathering will be sentenced to life in prison or a minimum of twenty-
five years in prison upon conviction.
16. (a) Any security officer who has been assigned the assignment or who has the capacity or
authorization to do so as such officer to defend the life of any person who may be killed
or lynched by any mob or riotous gathering, but fails, neglects, or refuses to make all
reasonable attempts to prevent such person from being killed or lynched, shall be guilty
of breaking the law and, upon conviction, shall be punished by a term of imprisonment
not to exceed five years or a fine not to surpass N 500,00.00, or both.
(b) Any security officer tasked with the responsibility or who holds the power or
authority as such officer to preserve the life of any person in his custody as a prisoner,
who fails, neglects, or refuses to make all reasonable attempts to prevent such person or
prisoner from being put to death or lynched by any mob or riotous gathering, shall be
guilty of a felony, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished byimprisonment not
exceeding five years or by a fine not exceeding N 500,00.00, or byboth such fine and
imprisonment.
(c) Any security officer entrusted with apprehending or prosecuting any person engaging
in such mob or riotous gathering who fails, neglects, or refuses to make all reasonable
attempts to discharge his duty in interrogating or prosecuting such people under the
provisions of this Act and or the Criminal Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria shall
be subject to the provisions of this Act and or the Criminal Laws of the Federal Republic
of Nigeria, shall be guilty of a felony, and upon convictionthereof shall be punished by
imprisonment not exceeding five years or by a fine notexceeding N 500, 00.00, or by
both such fine and imprisonment.
17. (a) When a person is put to death by a mob or riotous crowd, the Magistrate or High
Court of the Judicial Division must have the jurisdiction to try and punish those who

95
commit the unlawful killing, in accordance with this Act or any other Act of the National
Assembly or the laws of the State where the illegal killing occurs.
(b) Provided, however, that in the event of security officers accused in the indictment,
such failure, negligence, or unwillingness of the security officer or officers tasked with
the responsibility of safeguarding lives and prosecuting such crimes under the provisions
of this Act or any Act of the National Assembly or State Laws to continue with due
diligence to capture and prosecute such participation, the State is deemed to have denied
to itscitizens the equal protection of the laws.
(c) The Magistrate or High Court of the judicial division where a person is summarily
killed or put to death by a security official acting alone or in cooperation with others must
have authority to try and punish individuals who participated in the unlawful killing in
accordance with this Act, any other Act of the National Assembly, or the laws of the state
where the illegal killing occurs.
18. It will not be necessary to prove the jurisdictional allegations in this case beyond a
reasonable doubt; a preponderance of evidence will suffice.
19. (a) Any state in which a person is executed by a mob or a violent crowd must, if it is
alleged and shown that the security officials in the State tasked with the responsibility of
safeguarding lives and prosecuting criminally such act under the provisions of this Act or
other Act of the National Assembly or Laws of the State, failed, ignored, or refused to act
with due diligence to apprehend the perpetrator under the terms of this Act or any other
Act of the National Assembly or Laws of the State and prosecute the participants in the
mob or disorderly gathering, must forfeit a minimum of N 500,00.00 in compensation,
which may be recovered by the personal representatives of the person put to death in a
civil action against any such State.
(b) The suit against the state will be launched and prosecuted before Nigeria's Supreme
Court.
20. If such compensation is not paid after a judgement is recovered, the court has the
authority to force payment by levying execution on any State property, or by forcing the
imposition and collection of a tax, or by any other suitable procedure; and any official of
the State or any individual who disobeys or fails to comply with a legitimate court order
faces contempt fines, as well as any other penalties imposed by law.

96
21. In the event that a prisoner sentenced to death was moved from one state to another by a
crowd or riotous assembly between his arrest and execution, the states in which he was
seized and the states in which he was executed shall be jointly and severally responsible
to pay the compensation set out herein.
22. It is a criminal for security agents to murder anybody, including suspects or inmates,
without a warrant;
(a) Any security officer operating under the authority of an Ant of the National Assembly
who has in his custody or control a suspect commits a criminal by conspiring, combining,
or conniving with any individual to summarily execute or put such suspect to death
without authorization of law as a punishment for any purported public violation.
(b) Any security official who has a suspect in his custody or control and conspires,
combines, or consorts with anybody to have that suspect taken or acquired from his
custody or control for the purpose of being summarily killed or put to death without
authority of law as a penalty for an alleged public infraction commits a capital offence,
shall be guilty of acapital offence, and those who so conspire, combine, or confederate
with such officershall likewise be guilty of a felony.
23. If found guilty of extrajudicial killing by a court of competent jurisdiction, any security
officer who is suspected of carrying out extrajudicial killing of a suspect would be
sentenced to death.
24. Any senior security official who is accused of failing or deliberately refusing to exercise
his power to prevent the ill-treatment and extrajudicial death of a suspect of any crime
shall be found guilty of a felony, terminated from service, and sentenced to 15 years in
prison if convicted by a court of competent jurisdiction.
25. (a) Any security organisation in which a person is summarily killed or put to death by its
officers is considered a terrorist organisation, and if it is asserted and confirmed that the
security officers are responsible for such person's illegal killing, shall forfeit a
compensation in theminimum sum of N 10,000,000.00, which may be recovered by a
civil action by thepersonal representatives of the person so summarily killed or put to
death.

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(b) Any Nigerian High Court having jurisdiction must bring and prosecute any civil
action brought by the personal representatives of the person summarily executed or put to
death.
26. (a) that any security organisation whose officers summarily kill or put to death a person
in its possession is accountable for the expense of the autopsy; and
(b) a sealed copy of the official autopsy result is delivered to the deceased individual's
personal representatives or family.
27. (a) Any person or persons in police detention or custody who sustains a gunshot wound
or any other injuries sustained during an arrest shall be brought to the nearest general
hospital in the area of the police station or area where the injury happened for immediate
medical attention;
(b) Any security officer who denies a person or individuals suffering from gunshot
wounds or any other harm received during detention in his or her custody emergency
medical attention is guilty of a criminal.
28. Any security officer convicted of denying emergency medical care to a victim of gunshot
wounds or any wound received during arrest under Section 27 of this Act, resulting in the
death of such victim or victims, will be sentenced to life in prison or a minimum of
twenty-five years in jail.
29. (a) It is against the law for any hospital or medical personnel to deny or refuse medical
attention to a person or persons suffering from a gunshot wound.
(b) In any area of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, it is prohibited for any medical staff to
seek a police report from a victim or victims of gunshot wounds as a condition of
treatment.
30. Any medical personnel who refuses, rejects, or demands a police report before treating a
gunshot wound victim is committing a felony, and if the victim dies as a result of any
delay in medical assistance caused by such denial, rejection, or demand for a police
report before treatment, the medical staff concerned is guilty of criminal negligence and
subject to imposition of imprisonment for life or not lessthan twenty-five years in prison.
31. After an investigation and indictment by the Nigerian Police Force and/or the Nigerian
Medical Association in a report, any hospital that ignores, rejects, or needs a police report
as a condition for treating a victim or victims of gunshot wounds may be subject to a fine

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of N10,000,000.00 to the victim and/or the victim's personal representatives if the victim
dies from the bullet wounds.
A report from the Nigerian Police Force or the Nigerian Medical Association is sufficient
to prove guilt, regardless of clause 29 (d).
(a) Any victim of a gunshot wound who suffers discrimination, or the State Attorney
General, may submit a criminal complaint in writing against such security officer,
hospital, or medical professionals.
32. (a) If the state's Attorney-General receives such a petition from a gunshot wound victim
or his or her personal representatives, the Attorney-General must order a criminal
investigation into the matter;
(b) When a prima facie case is established under section 29 of this Act, the Attorney-
General of the State, or the Attorney-General of the Federation in the event of an
occurrence in the Federal Capital Territory, must bring criminal charges against the
security officer, hospital, or medical personnel involved.
33. Offenses Against Jungle Justice and Others The bill's official title is Bill, 2015.

(vi) SOUTH AFRICAPREVENTION AND COMBATING OF HATE CRIMES


AND HATE SPEECH BILL, 2018

In line with international law duties, to give effect to the Republic's duties under the Constitution
and international human rights treaties addressing racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and
similar intolerance; to provide for the offence of hate crime and to provide for reporting on the
implementation, application, and administration of this Act, to effect consequential amendments
to relevant Acts of Parliament, and to provide for matters related thereto.

PREAMBLE
The Republic of South Africa and its people have been working to construct a society based on
democratic values of social justice, human dignity, equality, and the expansion of human rights
and freedoms, as well as non-racialism and non-sexism, since 1996.

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MEMORANDUM ON THE OBJECTIVES OF THE HATE CRIMES AND HATE
SPEECH BILL, 2018

BACKGROUND
Human dignity, equality, and the expansion of human rights and freedoms, as well as non-
racialism and non-sexism, are all established in Section 1 of the Republic of South Africa's
Constitution of 1996.
The Bill of Rights prohibits all indirect unfair discrimination based on race, gender, sex,
pregnancy, marital status, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual orientation, age, disability,
religion, conscience, belief, culture, language, or birth.Everyone has the right to dignity under
section 10 of the Bill of Rights, and everyone has the right to personal freedom and security
under section 12 of the Bill of Rights, which includes the right to be free of all forms of violence
from both public and private sources.Under Section 16 of the Bill of Rights, everyone enjoys the
right to free expression. This right, however, is limited in that it excludes propaganda for war,
incitement to imminent violence, and the propagation of hatred based on race, ethnicity, gender,
or religion, all of which are deemed incitement to harm. The state must "protect, maintain,
promote, and fulfil the rights mentioned in the Bill of Rights," according to Article 7(2) of the
Constitution.
This is where the Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill ("the Bill")
comes from. The bill is meant to target persons who act violently on a regular basis and are
driven by well-defined prejudices.

OBJECTS OF BILL
The Bill's main goal is to make hate crimes and hate speech crimes, as well as to put in place
mechanisms to prevent and punish them.

DISCUSSION AND CLAUSE-BY-CLAUSE ANALYSIS


The Bill's first clause offers self-explanatory definitions. The Act does not apply to district courts
because of the definition of ‘court.' Serious offences are only heard in the High Court and
regional courts, which have more experienced presiding officials. This clause also includes

100
definitions that are necessary for the purposes of section 4(1) when hate speech is distributed via
cyberspace (b).

The Bill's objectives are outlined in Clause 2.

Hate crime is defined under Clause 3. If a person commits any recognised infringement under
any law, generally referred to as the "base crime or offence," and the conduct of that offence is
motivated by prejudice or intolerance based on one or more qualities or perceived qualities of the
victim, as stated in the Bill, a victim's family member or the victim's participation with or
admiration for a group of individuals who exhibit the aforementioned criteria is deemed a hate
crime.
Only the Director of Public Prosecutions with authority may authorise a prosecution for this
offence.

Hate speech is defined as a felony under Clause 4. Clause 4(1)(a) specifies that anybody who
deliberately publishes, propagates, or promotes anything, or communicates with one or more
individuals in a way that may reasonably be regarded as displaying a clear intention to damage or
provoke violence, or to promote or spread hatred, is guilty of a felony, is guilty of a felony
basedon age, albinism, birth, color, culture, disability, ethnic or social origin, gender orgender
identity, HIV status, language, nationality or migrant or refugee status, race,religion, sex, which
includes intersex or sexual orientation, is guilty of the offence ofhate speech. If the sender knows
the content constitutes hate speech, Clause 4(1)(b) makes it illegal to transmit or make available
hate speech materials in cyberspace. According to Clause 4(1), any person who wilfully shows or
makes available any material, knowing that such material constitutes hate speech, and which
material is accessible by or directed at a specific person who can be considered a victim of hate
speech, commits an offence (c).

Clause 4(2) is important because it exempts some communications from the Bill's criminal
penalties. The exclusions specified in clause 4(2)(a) to (c) of the Bill are not new, but they do
reaffirm section 16(1) of the Constitution's right to freedom of speech, which includes (a) press

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and other media freedom; (b) receiving or transmitting information or ideas; (c) artistic and
creative freedom; and (d) academic and scientific research independence.

Anything done in good faith in the course of true artistic production, performance, or other form
of expression, academic or scientific study, or fair and accurate reporting or commentary in the
public interest is excluded from the definition of hate speech under Clauses 4(2)(a) to (c) of the
Bill.Anything done in good faith in the course of true artistic production, performance, or other
form of expression, academic or scientific study, or fair and accurate reporting or commentary in
the public interest is excluded from the definition of hate speech under Clauses 4(2)(a) to (c) of
the Bill.
However, creative expression, performance, or religious teaching will not qualify for the hate
speech exception if it inspires hatred that constitutes incitement to cause harm based on any
protected reason.
Only the Director of Public Prosecutions with authority may authorise a prosecution for this
offence.

Clause 5 deals with victims' impact statements. A victim impact statement is defined as a sworn
declaration or affirmation by a victim that details the physical, psychological, social, economic,
or other consequences of a hate crime. The contents of this declaration will be admissible in
court unless there is compelling evidence to the contrary.

Clause 6 deals with penalties or orders, and provides that a person who commits a hate crime is
liable to the penalties set forth in sections 276 or 297 of the Criminal Procedure Act, 1977 (Act
No. 51 of 1977), subject to the penal jurisdiction of that court (whether it be the High Court or
the regional court). Penalties, warnings, and reprimands can be delayed or suspended on a
conditional or unconditional basis under Section 297 of the Criminal Procedure Act of 1977.
Clause 6(2) indicates that a person convicted of a hate crime is exempt from the obligatory
minimum sentence system created by section 51 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1997.
(Act No. 105 of 1997), and there is any damage, injury, or loss of income or support, the fact that
the offender was convicted of a hate crime must be considered as an aggravating element by the
court. Clause 6(3) lays out the penalties for hate speech, which include a fine or imprisonment

102
for a term of not more than three years for a first offence and a fine or imprisonment for a term
of not more than five years for a subsequent offence.

After consultation with the Director-General: Justice and Constitutional Development and the
National Commissioner of the South African Police Service, Clause 7 requires the National
Director of Public Prosecutions to provide directions on important matters, which prosecutors
must follow when carrying out their obligations under the Bill.

Clause 8 directs the Cabinet member in charge of justice administration to make regulations
governing the information to be acquired and aggregated by the South African Police Service
and the National Director of Public Prosecutions, respectively, after consultation with the
Cabinet member in charge of police and the National Director of Public Prosecutions. The
material gathered must be accessible to Parliament, the Chairperson of the South African Human
Rights Commission, the Chairperson of the Commission for Gender Equality, and the
Chairperson of the Commission for Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural,
Religious, and Linguistic Communities.

Clause 9 deals with hate crime and hate speech prevention, and directs the state, the South
African Human Rights Commission, and the Commission for Gender Equality to increase
awareness about the crimes' illegality in order to prevent and combat them.

Clause 10 empowers the Cabinet member in charge of justice government to make regulations in
conformity with the Bill's provisions.

When read in conjunction with the Bill's Schedule, Clause 11 describes the Bill's necessary
amendments to existing Acts of Parliament, such as the Criminal Procedure Act of 1977 and the
Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1997 (which deals with mandatory minimum penalties), and
the Child Justice Act of 2008. (Act No. 75 of 2008).The revisions in the Bill's Schedule only
apply to hate crimes, not hate speech.

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4.3 INDIAN PERSPECTIVE
There are so many laws and bill related to mob lynching in India.

• Indian Constitution of India


• Indian Penal Code 1860
• The Code of Criminal Procedure 1973
• Indian Evidence Act 1872
• Protection from Lynching Bill, 2017
• Law Relating to Cow Protection
• Manipur Protection From Mob Lynching 2018
• Rajasthan Protection From Lynching Bill, 2019
• Utter Pradesh Combating Mob Lynching Bill 2019
• West Bengal Prevention Of Lynching Bill, 2019

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CHAPTER - V

CHALLENGES AND ISSUES BEFORE THE INDIAN LEGISLATURE

5.1 LEGISLATURE

Legislature is an official authority that is responsible for framing laws and regulations related to
social, political and economic aspects that exist across an organization. The varied changes and
alternatives that are required to operate in a provided scenario are established and maintained by
the relative legislature. In general scenarios, the legislature consists of individuals who are
selected through a democratic process and are provided with suitable powers to make laws and
regulations 150. Thus the legislature acts as a competent government body that is responsible in
building a positive design and allocates better obligations throughout the process of
development. Legislatures play a huge role in building the primary legal support structure that is
available for supporting social causes such as controlling the incidences of mob lynching. By
making stricter laws and by building a better support system that is available throughout the
organizational attribute is impacted positively due to the available legislature.

5.2 LEGISLATURE AND LAW MAKING

Legislatures are responsible for making laws and building better outcomes for the respective
population. Enabling such provisions is also quite helpful in establishing a relation between the
demands of population and the availability of efficient laws and regulations. The networks of
regulations developed by legislatures are significant in building a reasonable approach
throughout the process. Thus encouraging better objective for governance and improved results.
Legislatures can be held accountable for making suitable regulations that can be useful in
development of an anti-mob lynching culture across the country 151 . The availability of these
obligations can initiate a more authentic and distinctive form of design system for development.
Building a more reasonable process of developing laws that can limit the unethical incidences;
the processes and their respective support within the available legal structure are crucial for
controlling incidences like mob lynching.
150
Kronstadt, K. A. (2018). India: Religious Freedom Issues. Current Politics and Economics of South, Southeastern, and Central Asia, 27(1/2),
203-237.

151
Kaushik, A. (2018). RADICALIZATION IN INDIA: DIAGNOSIS AND REMEDIES.

105
There are a variety of challenges and issues before the Indian legislation that relate to the
incidences of mob lynching. One of the most initial forms of challenge is based on the nature and
origination design of these incidences. Majority of the incidences of mob lynching in India are
inspired through religious sentiments and thus requires a small triggering action to initiate large
resultants 152 . In the past few years, India has witnessed a significantly higher amount of
incidences related to mob lynching. And as mentioned in the earlier statement, most of them are
inspired by religious sentiments and beliefs. Religion has always been an important attribute in
the Indian society, but in the current scenario and especially since the past few years. There are a
number of subordinate factors that have been responsible for building this conflicting situation
across the country. These include the present governance system, changing attitude of people
towards their own and other religions and development of a mob culture that is associated with
social justice prevailing process 153. Thus countering these issues remain a major responsibility
for the Indian legislation. Since, the issue is largely associated with managing large amount of
population by building a suitable social and legal structure.

Although, there are enough prospects available for building a better operational obligation for
maintaining and managing a quality centric operation. The Indian legislation is equipped with all
essential fragments that are important for controlling incidences of mob lynching. But since they
are not practiced effectively, the end results vary largely. The development process requires a
suitable form of design and an improved quality consideration throughout the process of
developing anti-mob lynching regulations. The prospects for these legal considerations are
attached to introduce better design segmentations throughout the development process.

5.3 NEED OF PARTICULAR AND SPECIFIC LAW RELATED TO MOB LYNCHING

The present legal structure in order to prevent the incidences such as mob lynching is not at all
strong to carryout effective changes. Their operational value is very limited in both application
and execution attributes and thus, the feasibility of the control systems are not effective. Thus,
the new and improved legal structure is required that can be helpful in bringing a more dedicated
form of operation and execution possibilities in case of an unethical conduct such as mob
152
Kumar, N. (2020). Mob Lynching in India: A New Crime Emerging in Indian Culture. Purakala with ISSN 0971-2143 is an UGC CARE
Journal, 31(25), 54-61.

153
Ahmed, S. (2018). Minority Rights Protection in India; From Sachar Committee Recommendations to Mob Lynching. Review Of Research
Journal.

106
lynching. The availability of specific laws makes the whole process of acknowledging the
growth in a very stable manner and thus introduces better operating jurisdictions for the selected
aspects 154. Such laws are also significant in promoting equality and bringing a more authentic
legal obligation attached to the prospects of mob lynching incidences. The new and dedicated
legal systems are a key aspect that is limited to establish some standard guidelines for the
occurrence of similarly operated incidences. Another important factor that is related to initiation
of a competent legal structure is the availability of some major loopholes that exist within the
existing legal aspects. The existing legal aspects are not quite competent in building better
resultants and thus are at a major scale ineffective on order to improvise the process of
controlling mob lynching. These are the reasons, that bills such as MASUKA are introduced.
These bills and laws are based on the current requirements within the judiciary system that is
helpful in encouraging better resultants throughout. Thus creating an overall positive impact on
the constitutional and human rights obligations associated with the system.

"Vigilante justice is rapidly becoming a norm in various parts of the country. Mobs are
undermining the law, taking to the street, comforted by their safety in numbers, to punish people
for crimes without verifying the authenticity of any wrongdoing. Irrespective of the truth in the
accusations made by the mob, these extrajudicial killings are in themselves as much crimes as
child-lifting (which appears to be the latest cause for the mob). Law and order is a state subject,
and the police is responsible for preventing mob violence. But as per the Status of Policing
Report 2019 – which surveyed police personnel in 21 states – 35-40% of junior police personnel
believe it is “natural” for mobs to “punish” culprits in cases of kidnapping, rape, cow slaughter
and road accidents. This strongly points to the urgent need for a systemic overhaul. While the
epidemic of lynching wasn’t born out of a flaw in the justice system, it is in effect, a rejection of
it. The current laws of the Indian Penal Code [in section 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder),
323 (causing voluntary hurt), 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon) and 149
(unlawful assembly)] are not enough, and there is a need for a law specific to lynching. Bengal,
Rajasthan and Manipur have already taken the initiative on this. But legislation is not enough.
What is also needed is a change in attitudes."

154
Gopinath, S. (2017).Appropriating Bodies: Discourses on Nationalism in India. HyperCultura, 6(1), 1-12.

107
To dismantle the mob requires collaboration. It requires people to trust the justice system to
ensure that criminals will be punished through due process. It requires politicians to stop
explicitly, or implicitly, backing the mob, and instead ensure action against it. And it requires
State institutions, particularly the police, to act independently and firmly against injustice of all
kinds – from mob lynching to child abductions – to truly ensure that India remains a free, just,
peaceful and lawful society.

5.4 INTERNATIONAL PROVISIONS

International provisions related to the incidences of mob lynching in India have a huge impact on
building better considerations in terms of controlling and limiting them. The objectives for
procurement process are largely directed by these provisions. The government as well as the
common population in India are influenced by these international provisions and thus operate in
accordance with the set provisions 155. The attributes required for developing a quality oriented
legislative design for countering the incidences of mob lynching. The international provisions
also act as a major pressure group for retaining the rights of minorities that are the target for
these incidences in most of the cases. These provisions help in maintaining some favourable
outcomes for the available groups that are being constant target of lynching; Thus providing
them with adequate safety and security considerations. The objectives and association of the
available international provisions are most likely impact the overall justification factor that is
entitled across the process of developing strong regulations in support of anti-lynching
considerations.

The regulatory processes within a country like India can be affected in a number of ways and
international regulations are one of them. The assessment factor that is integrated across an
organization is entitled to being value and quality of the process of legislative management.
These are also helpful in making efficient suggestions for the policy development and resource
management across mob lynching domain in India. The availability of international provisions is
ideal for limiting the challenges and issues within the India legislation in terms of controlling the
mob lynching incidences. The international provisions are structured to benefit a large volume of
population and thus inclusion of attributes related to it are significant in building a better
155
Mukherjee, R. (2020). Mobile witnessing on WhatsApp: Vigilante virality and the anatomy of mob lynching. South Asian Popular
Culture, 18(1), 79-101.

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prospect attached to the overall quality of services. The considerations and attributes that are
liable to be used across an effective legislation system are in many ways based on suggestions
from a wide range of organizations. Thus the end results attached to these processes are entitled
to bring a suitable amount of design attribute attached to the legislative development.

The recent incidences of mob lynching India have been largely criticized across the international
communities and thus have been crucial in promoting the changes across its legal and social
obligation. The considerations based on international provisions are also important as these
promote an ideal scenario for each of the available domains that exist across pressurising justice
systems within the country 156. International provisions act as a major source of guidance for the
available attributes and thus supply the legal structure with the required obligations related to
preventing and controlling of mob lynching incidences. International provisions are also helpful
in promoting and prevailing justice for the survivors of mob lynching or their relatives. As most
of the incidences of mob lynching incidences are carried out by independent vigilante groups that
are either backed by the major social sections or the political parties in power, the process of
justice prevailing is also not carried out effectively. Thus in these cases the availability of
international provisions are useful. These provisions develop a constant threat for widespread
defamation of the country. Thus these act as a major factor for creating pressure across the
incidence

Human Rights Act

Human rights are an important attribute that is relevant to the current situation of mob lynching
across India. Human rights in its very basic form restrict its each and every participant from
tolerating any inhuman incidence for its citizens. Thus the overall consideration that exists across
a country is in many ways influenced by these human resource aspects and regulations. The same
factor is applied in the case of India. India is an active member of The Universal Declaration of
Human Rights. This fragment is responsible for aligning to the available guidelines in terms of
retaining proper quality considerations across the human rights management process.

In case of the incidences linked to mob lynching, India is responsible for adhering to the related
obligations and initiates a more supportive entity that is attached to the process of human rights

156
Islam, J. (2019). Mob Lynching and the Failure of Our Legal System. SCLS Law Review, 2(3)

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management. The considerations for maintaining these aspects are also significant and are more
likely to impact the growing demands of the common population. The fundamentals of human
rights are to be maintained across these obligations and in case of violation, the government or
the entire country can be held accountable by the concerned authorities 157 . The process of
monitoring is carried out with the availability of supportive local body attached to the central
authorities. Human rights activists are provided with the responsibility to identify any form of
discrimination that is being carried out across an organizational structure. Thus, discrimination in
any format is recorded and assessed by the various human rights departments operating locally as
well as globally. Thus the human right factor can be considered as an important obligation linked
to the process of eliminating incidences of mob lynching in India.

5.5 NATIONAL PROVISIONS

(i) Constitutional Provisions

Constitutional provisions are the set of norms and standards that are to be used for building a
more relevant and compatible form of operating principles for the selected regions and
dimensions. The overall quality factors that are associated with availability of constitutional
provisions are segmented to build responsible approaches extensively across the operating
design. Constitutional provisions can only make suggestions that a particular design is suitable
for practicing socially compatible prospects. The available constitutional provisions across mob
lynching incidences have been regulated recently with the increased number of cases across this
domain. Although, the application of these provisions remains an important issue as it is linked
to the existing local authorities. The effectiveness of this factor is in many ways impacted by the
slow and ineffective countering processes that exist across the country. There are appropriate
provisions mentioned across the constitution that relate with promoting equality throughout the
society and also influence better outreach for controlling evil incidences such as mob lynching.
These provisions are developed considering the social considerations across India and thus are
158
related to manage the available differences throughout . The overall operability and
considerations are entitled to bring value and define appropriate strategies for countering evil

157
Arun, C. (2019). On WhatsApp, Rumours, Lynchings, and the Indian Government. Economic & Political Weekly, 54(6).

158
Banaji, S. (2018). Vigilante publics: orientalism, modernity and Hindutva fascism in India. Javnost-The Public, 25(4), 333-350.

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social practices, but the main issue remains across their respective management and application
system. The application process has lacked at several levels and thus incidences related to mob
lynching have grown significantly in the past few years.

Apart from the constitutional provisions, lack of social awareness is an important issue that is
linked to the increased cases of mob lynching. The present social situation in India is largely
disturbed. It has been incorporated to build a negative perspective towards the minorities and
thus have facilitated an increment in the number of mob lynching incidences. The social
considerations must be analysed based on the legal structure and especially with the
constitutional provisions 159. This can be an important initiative for building a more ideal and
integrated form of social establishment throughout the country. The perspectives that are
associated with these obligations are also based on improving the design factors and ultimately
bringing a more objective oriented design to facilitate better outcomes. Providing equal rights
across the country to each and every religious and cultural group can be also an important
initiative for building better provisions throughout. The available differences across social
considerations and the emerging religious conflicts are the issues that are entitled to be controlled
through social development processes. Building of a more vital set of operating design and an
information oriented progress system is liable to bring improved value to the process and
incorporate better design specifications throughout the process. Each of the available religious
groups and sections have their own perceptions and understanding, thus building a collaborative
social design for fulfilling these assumptions are an important attribute 160 . The fundamental
factors of progress must be stuffed with better provisions that can be collectively used to
encourage better resultants across the society. Thus the incidences related to mob lynching can
be assessed extensively. The overall consideration and operational justifications for the
constitutional provisions can be met with these attributes.

(ii) CrPC Section 144 and other provisions

159
Kaur, M. (2020). Mob Lynching: A Heinous Crime. Purakala with ISSN 0971-2143 is an UGC CARE Journal, 31(29), 1-6.

160
Ram Manohar Lohia v. State of Bihar &Ors. 1966 AIR 740, 1966 SCR(1) 109

111
The section 144 of Criminal Procedure Code is an important act related to the incidences of mob
lynching. It came in to existence in the year 1973 to retain harmony and peace across incidences
that may result in to rioting. The executive magistrate of a particular area is provided with
additional powers to disintegrate any rioting possibility such as gathering of four or more
individuals in a particular region. This section is based on providing advance security mechanism
for conflicting areas and thus limits the chances of any unfortunate incidence. The basic abilities
and considerations that are attached to this section are a direct control mechanism for restricting
mob lynching incidences 161. The overall operability that is associated with this section is based
on building a coping mechanism from riots by limiting the number of people gathering at a
particular location. It restricts the availability of a four or more people in a particular location if
the situation is tensed and headed to worsen. This section is also suitable for controlling the main
aspects of mob lynching by limiting the availability of a mob. Group or gathering of people from
certain groups is in majority of cases the reason for occurrence of mob lynching 162. Thus this
section is also significant in allocating adequate room for the individuals to understand their
social obligations and establish a more dedicated form of approach that is ideal for the
organization and its development. The considerations that are responsible for facilitating a mob
lynching incidence are in a number of ways supported by this section. The considerations and
associations across this section are also based on building strong hold of the security
professionals and police forces across the situation, thus limiting the availability of any of such
incidence.

Section 144 is also helpful in building a clearer form of operating segmentation within the
incidences if mob lynching. The practices for mob lynching are stuffed with promoting peace
across a particular region. The instructions for not practicing any gathering are linked to
undertake supportive actions for the anti-mob culture and improve the design fundamentals
throughout the process 163. Accomplishment factor for such an idea is entirely based on bringing
better measures to control the development of religious conflicts that ultimately create chances of
mob lynching. The section 144 when applied is more likely to introduce a limit on the socializing

161
Jassal, N., &Chhibber, P. (2019). India in 2018: crises of institutional legitimacy and gender. Asian Survey, 59(1), 85-97.

162
Prakash Singh v. Union of India

163
Kusuma, K. S. (2018). Media, technology and protest: an Indian experience. Language in India, 18(7).

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activities across a region thus providing proper justifications for stopping the incidences such as
mob lynching at their very early stages. This section is more likely to introduce a much
controlled form of operations across a provided region that is helpful in monitoring and
maintaining proper precautions based support prospects. The justification of these attempts is in
many ways entitled to bring the incidences to an end and activate proper justifications within the
process 164 . The fundamentals based on these attributes are entirely linked to controlling of
unfortunate incidences and maintain law and order across the region. So, this section is helpful in
eradicating some of the most dangerous practices such as mob lynching across Indian society in
the current operational environment.

(iii) State Laws

State is a separate entity and has different rights and duties as that of the central government in
India. The state laws are also an important factor for retaining a proper collaborative form of
operating structure. The state laws are also crucial as they are directly attached to the incidences
such as mob lynching incidences. One of the most important aspects that are suitable for
illustrating this fact is that the local police department is responsible for controlling such
incidences and in case these incidences occur, it must be considered as the responsibility of state
government and the legal system that is in place 165. The overall operability index is based on
building a more strict operating design under the legal prospects. This will be helpful in limiting
the cases of mob lynching and also establish a proper rule of law across the region. There are
several state laws that are available across such mob violence activities and thus are entitled to
bring quality alternatives throughout the process. The operational justifications that are
associated with these laws are directly implemented on local scale and thus there are of great
importance. The feasibility factor that is incorporated within this particular entity is also related
to justifying the growth of a perfectly managed system that limits incidences related to mob
lynching and brings important value and considerations. The state laws can also be considered as
the primary line of defence for controlling such incidences and building a more relatable and
sustainability oriented design fundamentals throughout the process of management.

164
Mohammad Haroon and others v. Union of India, (2014) 5 SCC 252

165
Shreya Singhal v.Union of India AIR 2015 SC 1523

113
State laws are also ideal as they introduce several region oriented prospects through knowledge
of local operations and social viabilities. The entire prospect that is associated with the system is
liable to promote better quality considerations and an improvised set of management possibilities
throughout the process. The liabilities and justifications that exist across an incidence of mob
lynching are liable to bring sufficient quality factors and their respective application within the
available design systems 166. The state laws are also helpful in promoting a more diverse range of
propositions and thus are entitled to enable the relative attributes that are based on the selected
organizational processes. The ability of local authorities in tackling the proceedings and
encouraging better outcomes for coping up with the incidences of mob lynching are some of the
immediate benefits that are associated with the state laws. State laws are also necessary as the
local authorities have a more detailed understanding of the requirements and considerations
across the available frameworks. Thus these regulations or laws are more sufficient in improving
the quality of operation and building a more vital form of operational design throughout the
system 167. They are perfectly aware of the requirements that are essential for a particular social
establishment to operate sufficiently and build enhanced design of operating structure across the
relative obligations. The ideologies and concepts of the process are also suitable for promoting a
more detailed and distinctive form of operating principle throughout the system. Thus state laws
play an important role in building a dedicated system of operations for tacking issues such as
mob lynching 168. In addition to this, the background for a mob lynching process is developed
prior to the actual incidence and thus in order to put a control. Monitoring and management at
initial and permanent basis are required 169 . These are equally helpful in promoting a better
business design and an improved form of justification attribute that is associated with the process
of learning and management of coping mechanisms of mob lynching. Strict and ideal state laws
are liable to promote a more authentic form of operating design that is associated with the
process of developing better concerns 170. The challenges and considerations that are required for

166
Parikh, A., & Miller, C. (2019). Holy Cow! Beef Ban, Political Technologies, and Brahmanical Supremacy in Modi's India. ACME: An
International E-Journal for Critical Geographies, 18(4).

167
Jaffrelot, C. (2017). India's democracy at 70: Toward a Hindu state?. Journal of Democracy, 28(3), 52-63.

168
Drabu, O. (2018). Who Is the Muslim? Discursive Representations of the Muslims and Islam in Indian Prime-Time
News. Religions, 9(9), 283.

169
Arumugam Servai v. Union of India, AIR 2015 SC 1523

170
Gupta, R. (2019). Social psychiatry in India: Current changes and challenges. Indian Journal of Social Psychiatry, 35(1), 4.

114
managing social diversity and prohibiting the challenges that are associated within the system.
The obligations and support fundamentals are entitled to create a more widespread impact on the
control of mob culture and especially mob lynching.

5.6 ISSUES AND CHALLENGES UNDER THE CURRENT REGIME

The current regime in India is in a majority of ways based on weakening social values, increase
on the usage of propagation of fake news and development of false religious sentiments by the
government to the common population. The various proposals and changes that are entitled to
bring quality across their respective assessment process are of great importance throughout the
system 171. The obligations for initiating a resourceful operation across this subject are required to
make changes within the process. The obligations and justifications across the social
establishments are to be used evidently throughout the process 172. In the current situation, the
country has been going through an identity crisis and thus promotes regulatory aspects for
managing them 173 . The obligations that are associated with promoting the resolutions to the
available issues have evolved across the community. The issue related to this particular
perspective have widened in the recent years as a nationalist party has come in to power. This
national political party has a history of oppressing minorities and thus there is a significant
amount of distress across the minority population 174. In addition to this, the difference between
different religious groups and sections across the current scenario has also widened significantly
which has ultimately led to an ineffective design and a less correlative approach between their
operations.

In addition to this, the current regime is also negatively influenced by the availability of fake
news as an important constituent. A variety of fake news with untrue allegations is available
throughout the entire country175. The different participants of this fake news system are liable to
have a negative impact on the social cooperation and shared progress of the selected aspects. The

171
Adcock, C. (2018). Cow Protection and Minority Rights in India: Reassessing Religious Freedom. Asian Affairs, 49(2), 340-354.

172
Joseph, R. V. (2018). Derailment of Religious Freedom: a Study Based on the Constitutions of Indonesia and India. International Journal
of Interreligious and Intercultural Studies, 1(1), 71-84.

173
Destruction of Public and Private Properties v. Govt. of A.P. AIR 2009 SC 212
174
Misra, V. P., &Narula, M. P. (2020).Impact of Social Media on Indian Elections. Studies in Indian Place Names, 40(3), 3663-3675.

175
Iltis, T. (2018). India: Communists organise to resist fascism. Green Left Weekly, (1176), 14.

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various obligations and justifications within these systems are entitled to have a more
complicated design fundamental for the social and political operations. The justification process
that is associated with the system is liable to create less effective legal and ethical considerations
and thus actions such as mob lynching take place 176. Thus these are the most diverse range of
aspects that are directly associated with the issues and complications linked to the current
regime 177.

5.7 MAJOR ISSUES AND RESTRICTIONS FACED BY THE LEGISLATURE

Issues and restrictions are a core entity that are linked to the available legislations and
constitutional reforms based on mob lynching incidences. The operating significance and
attributes those are suitable to the building of a more quality centric design. Thus the justice
system requires constant changes and adaptations to bring value to the mob lynching laws and
regulations, although, there are a range of issues and limitations that are available within this
particular segment 178. These challenges and issues are entitled to bring a significance amount of
restrictions to the process and bring a reduced value of applicable objectives within this domain.
These issues and complications are also linked to putting a restriction to the future operations
and thus enable a more distinctive set of operating design throughout. Some of the important
factors that are associated with the available issues and complications across the regulations and
laws related to mob lynching. A detailed analysis of these attributes are provided in the below
mentioned sections. These attributes are of great importance in terms of improvising the
legislative and regulatory obligations attached to incidents such as mob lynching. It will also
help in understanding the growing need of a more specific legal structure across the general
domain of mob lynching 179.

176
Krishna Sradha v. State of Andhra Pradesh (2017) 4 SCC 516
177
Mirchandani, M. (2018). Digital hatred, real violence: Majoritarian radicalisation and social media in India. ORF
Occasional Paper, 167.

178
Ganguly, M. (2017).Engaging in Whataboutery instead of Protecting Rights. Brown J. World Aff., 24, 39.
179
Basu, A. (2018). Whither Democracy, Secularism, and Minority Rights in India?. The Review of Faith & International
Affairs, 16(4), 34-46.

116
(i) Social inequality

Social inequality is one of the core factors that are responsible for promoting incidents such as
mob lynching. Social inequality is a dangerous practice across a social establishment that is
liable to incorporate a less ideal scenario for building positive attributes across the limiting mob
lynching accidents. Social equality is the most significant reason that is associated with the
incidences of mob lynching. It is responsible for fuelling hatred across the communities and
brings differences among their respective obligations. Thus elimination of social inequality both
in general as well as legal significance can be largely helpful in bringing a more ideal framework
and thus can encourage mitigation theories for mob lynching 180.

(ii) Insufficient data and research

The legal framework that is responsible for making laws and regulatory obligations within a
system are entitled to initiate a better operating structure when sufficient data and information is
included through effective research. The legal attributes guided by insufficient data and research
is entitled to have a less authentic design and thus are not ideal for bringing up required
resultants. Unavailability of data and information in sufficient amount are also liable to
encourage a majorly lacking perspective that is based on inequality. Thus the decisions made are
not sufficient and are liable to lack their basic significance.

(iii) Impurity

Impurity across legislation and laws is the lack of proper consideration for each and every
section involved in a particular situation. This often leads to unethical decision making across the
legal structure 181. This particular entity is also a major reason for the lack of trust and belief in
the common population and especially for some of the social groups especially the minorities.
Ensuring a pure structure for carrying out legally privileged decisions lack in such as system
Thus the efficiency segment that is attached to the process are affected negatively. Purity across

180
Prakash, G., Verma, R. K., Ilavarasan, P. V., &Kar, A. K. (2019, June).Authenticating Fake News: An Empirical Study in
India.In International Working Conference on Transfer and Diffusion of IT (pp. 339-350).Springer, Cham.

181
Ansari, K. A. (2018). Contesting communalism (s): Preliminary reflections on Pasmanda Muslim narratives from North India. Prabuddha:
Journal of Social Equality, 1(1), 78-104.

117
the decision making process is a key requirement in any legal system and law making process.
Its unavailability generates several issues and challenges across the operations.

(iv) Limited attention to the negatively impacted groups and issues

The impact groups in a mob lynching scenario is the most vulnerable segment and thus it
requires approaches to ensure trust and belief in them. The unavailability of this particular
segment often generates specific issues and shortcomings for the involved systems. The
entitlements and associations that are associated with this particular factor are directly linked to
ensuring belief of the negatively impacted groups across the system 182. Thus building a more
detailed and distinctive form of operating system throughout the whole process. It is also entitled
to bring relativeness and compatibility for the system to perform in a more efficient manner.
Limited attention to the negatively impacted groups makes them vulnerable and creates a sense
of misconduct throughout the process, thus building a very limited type of operating perspective
for the laws and regulations.

In addition to these, there are several other factors that act as issues and challenges in order to
implement a proper legal structure and thus initiate increased number of mob lynching incidents.

(v) Delayed justice

Policy reforms and delayed justice are the issues that directly impact the justice system that is put
in to place by the legal systems 183. It is also entitled to enhance the disbelief and among some
groups and thus create negative impacts across the social harmony. The people suffering under
adverse situations lose their hope in justice and thus initiate a disassociation across the selected
system. The obligations and understanding developed through such initiatives are more likely to
impact the growing incidences of mob lynching and thus crease restlessness across the social
institutions. Delhi Rape Case is the example of delayed justice. In this case on 13 March2014
Delhi High Court confirmed the death sentence for the four men convicted in Sept. 2013. But On

182
Ilavarasan, P. V., &Kar, A. K. (2019, July).Authenticating Fake News: An Empirical Study in India. In ICT Unbounded, Social Impact of
Bright ICT Adoption: IFIP WG 8.6 International Conference on Transfer and Diffusion of IT, TDIT 2019, Accra, Ghana, June 21–22, 2019,
Proceedings (Vol. 558, p. 339). Springer.

183
Malik, J. (2020). Indian Muslims or Muslim Indians?(Approx. 1947–2019). In Islam in South Asia (pp. 583-629).Brill.

118
20 March 2020 at 5:30 four adult convicts were executed by hanging at Tihar jail, most of the
times their capital punishment was postponed.

(vi) Fake news and hate news

In addition to this, availability of fake news and hate news are also liable to encourage the
quality and quantity of socially unacceptable incidences such as mob lynching. In the current
state, Indian society has been significantly affected by the availability of fake or hate news
throughout the system 184 . These news are circulated with a motive to create the maximum
possible damage to a selected community or group. Thus it remains a major issue for availing a
proper social justice system. It instigates communal violence and thus encourage social
instability.

EYES OPENING FACTS OF HATE SPEECH AND MOB LYNCHING RELATIONSHIP

1.The incidents of mob lynching have become rampant across the country in the past fewmonths,
with most attacks happening over 'child-lifting' and "cow slaughtering‟ rumors.

2. According to a report, most of the time people have been killed in the country due toseveral
fake media videos and messages.

3.Rumor mongers have turned social media into an anti-social environment, resulting in
lynchings.

4.Investigating agencies has also accepted that most of the time rumors are the main reason mob
lynching. Last year Tripura DGP AK Shukla said, "It has been noticed that
SMS,WhatsApp and social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are
beingwidely used for transmission of fake images and videos as well as text messages whichhave
potential to incite violence in the state at larger rate."

5.All the incidence of mob lynching, that happened in Maharashtra, Tripura, Uttar
Pradesh,Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana or in Tamil Nadu, were caused by
fakemessages in circulation on WhatsApp and rumors on other social media.

184
‐Development mix, modi myth, and dualities.
Kaul, N. (2017). Rise of the political right in india: Hindutva Journal of Labor and
Society, 20(4), 523-548.

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6.The Indian government has also stated that disinformation, rumours, and fake news are sources
of mob violence, with more than 77 percent of all mob violence cases in the last several years
being linked to rumours and ascribed to fake news distributed over social networking sites.

7.The ministry of electronics and information technology on 2 July, 2018, issued a warningto
WhatsApp, observing that “instances of the lynching of innocent people because of alarge
number of irresponsible and explosive messages filled with rumors andprovocation are
being circulated on WhatsApp”. The ministry said subsequently ina press release on 3
July, 2018, stating clearly that “WhatsApp must take immediateaction to end this menace
and ensure that their platform is not used for such malafideactivities”.

8.According to the information gathered by the reporters, there have been 87 occurrences of hate
crimes involving 289 victims in cow-related violence since 2010. Since May 2014, 98 percent of
these mob lynching instances have taken occurred.

9.As per DainikBhaskar (29 July 2018) investigations in 12 States, only two persons havebeen
convicted in crimes relating to mob lynching.

10. From 2014 until March 3, 2018, 45 people were slain in 40 mob lynching cases across nine
states.

(vii) Illiteracy

Illiteracy is one of the major reasons for the spread of fake and hate news as the common
population lacks an ability to analyze the authenticity of the process and thus initiate a better
overview throughout.

(viii) Religious polarization

Religious polarization is another important issue that is directly related to have a negative impact
on the legal system by encouraging social differences across the various religious groups. Groups
such as cow vigilantes are provided with enormous support and validity to carryout illegal
actions that often result in mob lynching incidences. Thus these are the most influential aspects

120
that are associated to cause social misconducts such as mob lynching by dividing the society in
to opposite groups based on a variety of factors 185.

(ix) Honour Killings

There is no particular meaning of respect murdering. Anyway these respect killings are murders
dedicated by relatives and the individuals having a place with concerned station on the decision
of Khap Panchayats or relatives of such persons who are accepted to have expedited disgrace or
shame to the family name. The clear disgrace is brought about by an injured individual declining
to go into an organized marriage or for having a relationship that is viewed as wrong by the
family or network. The apparent shame is regularly the aftereffect of the accompanying practices
or the doubt of such behaviour:

(a) Dress in such a way which isn't satisfactory by the group;

(b) Marriage by possessing decision (against the wish of family or group);

(c) Engaging in certain sexual demonstrations, incorporating those with inverse or same-sex.

It remained a challenge for all Governments to tackle this heinous crime against the couples who
wants to marry against the wishes of community. Central Government has made several efforts
to eliminate the discriminations between the different groups and casts and has run many
schemes to motivate to marry with intercast partner for this it gives financial assistance and
protection to the couples but even then it is regularly seen that couples are being murdered in the
name prestige or so called honour in the society.

(x) Loopholes in penal statutes (Central/State laws)

Sections 323, 324, 326, 302, and 307 of the IPC 1860 are ineffective in dealing with mob
lynching. Section 323 of the IPC punishes people who voluntarily cause harm, whereas section
324 punishes those who deliberately cause harm using hazardous weapons. Section 326 refers to
grave bodily harm, whereas sections 307 and 302 deal with attempted murder and murder
penalty, respectively. Fixing the onus of crime on individuals in mob lynchings is significantly

185
Das, S. (2019). Ethnic Conflict in the Indian Subcontinent: Assessing the Impact of Multiple Cleavages. Journal of Asian Security and
International Affairs, 6(3), 229-253.

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more difficult. When a grievously injured victim was handed over to the police and died shortly
after arriving at the hospital, an angry mob has attempted to blame police, accusing them of
custodial murder. There are so many faces and participants in mob incidents. Crowd has no face
so to fix the liability of all the person is very complicated.

(xi) Absence of strong political will

In certain jurisdictions, there have been instances of a portion of the political elite being
"considerate" of lumped vigilantes. There's a chance that the new law won't be strictly enforced
if there isn't a strong political resolve to do so. Some contend that, in addition to passing
legislation, the federal and state governments must demonstrate stronger political will to prevent
mob lynching.

(xii) Procedural complications

The procedure of the Indian judicial system is very complicated as there are many technicalities
in the procedural laws. From the First Information Report to final judgment there are so many
years consuming hurdles which are not a cake walk for a common man. There are so many penal
laws i.e. general and special and their procedure is prescribed in CrPC which is itself a very
technical and time consuming which requires some basic reformations. The victim or his family
members need quick remedies and justice to overcome from the wounds of mob lynching and an
ease judicial process can heal them quickly, so it is demand of the time that there must be a
procedure with no complications.

(xiii) Police Reforms

Police reformation is very long time awaited demand, many suggestions has been given by the
Law Commission and in various cases by the Supreme Court of India but there is no change is
seen in the working of policing even after making some reformations. The first action taking
authority of any crime or mob violence is our police department, but unfortunately its method of
taking action is very old and poor, it requires major reforms. There are many problems attached
with their working system like – delayed action, feeling above law, bribery, biasness, corruption,
fake encounters, misapplication of law, political pressure etc. without encountering these
shortcomings justice cannot be delivered to the victims of mob violence.

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(xiv) Cow Vigilantism

Lynching by a mob is not a common occurrence. According to data compiled by India Spend,
there have been about 87 occurrences of hate crimes involving 289 casualties in cow-related
violence since 2010. Interestingly, 98 percent of these mob lynchings have occurred after May
2014. Senior counsel Indira Jai Singh used the India Spend database of cow-related hate crime in
her recent written plea to the Supreme Court for the plea to crack down on cow vigilantes. That
is also a big issue and challenges before the legislature to deal with the cow vigilantism. Many
laws are available related to cow protection but in practical in the name of cow protection many
incidents are taken place.

(xv) Hostile of witnesses

According to a study published in The Hindu in 2016, 11,060 cases were brought up for inquiry,
with a 77 percent charge-sheeting rate. Due to a variety of variables, such as witnesses becoming
hostile as a result of threats and inducement, the conviction rate is just 16 percent. So the security
of witnesses is the main issue before the authority.

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CHAPTER - VI

MOB LYNCHING AND JUDICIAL APPROACH

6.1 INTRODUCTION
Legislatives, Executives, and the Judiciary are the three fundamental foundations of the state.
These three organs have distinct functions: the Legislative produces laws, the Executive
implements those laws, and the Judiciary evaluates those laws to determine if they have been
administered correctly and if they are in accordance with the requirements of the Indian
Constitution. The judiciary is the arm of government in charge of enforcing the law. The word
"courts" is used to refer to the system's courts, judges, magistrates, adjudicators, and other
support employees. Courts are responsible for enforcing the law, resolving disputes, and
punishing lawbreakers. Our legal system is an important part of our democratic culture. It
ensures that there is peace, order, and decent governance. People look to the judiciary to protect
their rights since it is the custodian of the Constitution and citizens' fundamental rights, and
governments rely on courts to interpret laws. Article 50 ensures the judiciary's independence by
separating it from the executive branch, allowing it to function without risk of being influenced
by strong interests or favouring particular parties. The ability of a court to dispense justice is
determined by its capacity to enforce its decisions. Only a court of appeals has the power to
overrule a lower court's decision.

In India, the courts are in charge of dealing with and making judgements186on a variety of matters.
The courts also have the authority to hold people accountable for their actions. The judiciary is in
charge of almost every social issue that requires a rule, like-

• Dispute Resolution: When a conflict arises, the courts step in to help resolve it. The court
is responsible for resolving disputes between citizens, citizens and government, or
between two state governments or even the central and state governments.

186
https//www.topper.com/guides/reasoning-ability/statements/situation-and-reaction.

124
• Judicial Review: The Indian Constitution is ultimately decided by the Court. As a result, if
the constitution's essentials are violated, the court has the power to overturn laws
established by Parliament. Judicial Review is the name for this procedure.

• Upholding the Law and Enforcing Fundamental Rights: Part III of our Constitution
defines almost all of the fundamental rights of Indian people. If any of these rights are
infringed, citizens can file a complaint with their local High Courts under Article 226 or
the Supreme Court under Article 32.

6.2 JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE DIRECTED BY THE SUPREME COURT

The Indian Constitution safeguards people' rights against any partial action by the government or its
executives, and it provides the court the ability to make judgments based on the rule of law in the
event of a disagreement. The country's judiciary is an autonomous entity as a result of this
power.The Indian courts are independent of the government and do not represent any political
power. Because of its independence, the court can guarantee that no part of the government abuses
its power.

The Supreme Court is the most significant court in the country, as it was created by the
Constitution. The Supreme Court is the country's highest court and the Constitution's protector.
Articles 124 to 147 of the Constitution establish the Supreme Court's structure and jurisdiction.It
is essentially an investigative court that hears appeals from decisions of state and regional high
courts. In any event, it accepts writ petitions in cases of real human rights violations or any
appeal filed under Article 32, which is the right to established remedies, or if the case involves a
complex subject that necessitates quick resolution.It convened for the first time on January 26,
1950, the day India's Constitution took effect, and has since communicated over 24,000 detailed
rulings. 187The Chief Justice and 33 other judges make up the Supreme Court. The President of
India appoints Supreme Court judges, who are eligible to serve until they reach the age of 65;
they may resign from their office before completion of the term and their office is not subject to
removal by any ordinary process except the procedure as provided for the removal of the
187
Introduction to the Constitution of I Ahmed

125
President of India (Impeachment). The Supreme Court's proceedings are conducted in English.
188
Under Article 145 the Supreme Court Rules of 1966 are limited to directing the Supreme
Court's instruction and method. 189The Supreme Court Rules of 2013 have been amended and
directly represent the equivalent. 190

6.3 HIGH COURTS

At the state level, there are 25 High Courts. The Supreme Court of India's judgements are
binding on all subordinate courts, according to Article 141 of the Indian Constitution (Obiter -
Dicta). Part VI, Chapter V, and Article 214 of the Indian Constitution create high courts as
protected courts. Along with District Courts, which are subordinate to the High Courts, the High
Courts are the major common courts of distinctive locality in the state. An appeal against the
judgment of the lower courts may be entertained in the respective High Court having the
jurisdiction.

Writ Jurisdiction is also a unique scope of the High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution,
which gives it equal jurisdiction to the Supreme Court in cases of basic rights protection. It has
more power than the Supreme Court, because a person can only go to the Supreme Court under
Article 32 if their basic rights have been violated and not for any other remedy but in the High
court under Article 226 of the Constitution an individual can seek other remedies along with
implementation of fundamental rights, further, right to move in Supreme Court through appeal
still survives, so one shall approach to the High court rather than the Supreme Court. The
President of India appoints high court judges after consulting with the Chief Justice of India, the
Chief Justice of the High Court, and the state's legislative leader. The judges of High court can
hold their office till the age of 62 years; they may resign before completion of their tenure.

6.4 WRIT JURISDICTION

The concept of writ is borrowed in the Indian Constitution from the Britain where it Supreme
Court and High Courts have exclusive Writ jurisdiction to implement laws and maintain social
security. In India the Constitution under Article 32 and 226 confers similar authority to the
Supreme Court and High Courts to issue writs.

188
“Article 145 in The Constitution of India 1949” indiankanoon.org
189
“Article 145 in The Constitution of India 1949” indiankanoon.org
190
See Article 32 of the Indian Constitution

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Writs are orders or commands issued by the superior court or authority to the inferior court or
authority to do something or to abstain from doing. Supreme Court is the guardian of the
fundamental rights of citizens as well as of the Constitution also so it has double responsibility to
maintain the supremacy of the Constitution and to protect the rights of the citizens against
arbitrary encroachment by the legislatives or executives.

Article 32 guarantees safeguards to the citizens in case of infringement of their fundamental


rights, they may move directly to the Supreme Court to remove obstructions created by State.
Under Article 32 one can move into the Supreme Court only in case of infringement of
fundamental rights and to implement the same but in a High Court under Article 226 one can
seek other remedies also along with revival of fundamental rights. Supreme Court can issue
various writs to implement the fundamental rights like – Writ of Habeas Corpus, Mandamus,
Certiorari, Prohibition and Quo-Warranto, similar powers are vested in High Courts under
Article 226 of the Constitution.

(a) Habeas Corpus

This is a very important writ for the release of a person detained unlawfully by any State
Authority. This writ can be issued by the Supreme Court or High Court against any authority in
whose custody the person in question is unlawfully detained. The literal meaning of this Latin
term is ‘to have the body’; it means the unlawfully detained person must be presented before the
court for taking any decision, whether to release or to remain in the custody as the case may be
after hearing the matter. The persons arrested under the special Acts like – TADA, POTA, MISA
AFSPA or Preventive Detention laws etc. cannot exercise this right or if the person for whom the
writ has been applied is released. This writ becomes quit more useful in present scenario when
the cases of mob violence are increased day by day and there may be a threat of unlawful or
illegal detention.

(b) Mandamus

The writ of Mandamus is issued by the Superior Court to the inferior court or authority to do
something if that authority is duty bound to do the same or abstain from doing something which
is not lawful or outside the jurisdiction of such authority. This writ can be issued only when there

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are two conditions fulfills simultaneously i.e. the person claiming the writ must have the right to
get the same and the authority against whom it is claimed must have duty to perform the same.

(c) Certiorari

Thiswrit is issued by the superior court against any inferior court or Tribunal which has
considered any matter having no jurisdiction, violation of fundamental rights or error apparent on
the face of record. Any party can move to the court after become aware of such lacking and after
the issuance of this writ the matter or the case will be stayed and all the orders previously passed
by such court or tribunal shall be quashed and case will be transferred to the appropriate court.

(d) Prohibition

It is issued to prohibit or stop a proceeding pending in a court and having no jurisdiction to try
such case, after the issuance of this writ all proceedings stops and no further trial can be
conducted by that court but previously passed orders shall continue in existence and parties
bound to obey such orders until any ulterior orders supersedes them.

(e) Quo-Warranto

Quo-Warranto means ‘by what authority’. This writ is issued when any public office is hold by
any suspicious person i.e. not legally authorised to hold the same. The office in question must be
of public nature and must be occupied illegally by the alleged person. The purpose of this writ
must not be mala fide one but must be applied in good faith. Remunerations drawn by such
person for his services are not recoverable but he shall be answerable for other accounts related
to that office.

These writs can be wisely used as a weapon in present era of mob violence and one can protect
his rights and life of other habitants. The primary objectives of these writs are to protect the
fundamental rights of the citizens and to maintain law and order in the society.

6.5 JUDICIAL REVIEW

Judicial Review is the ability of courts to analyse the activities of the state's legislative,
executive, and administrative institutions and determine whether they are constitutional.
Inconsistent actions are ruled unlawful and so null and void. It is also useful when there is no

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remedy or all the remedies are exhausted by the parties, even there is judicial review as the last
option to provide the justice which is also the very aim of the judiciary, in other words judicial
review is that window which always remains open even there is no any other path.

The judiciary plays an essential role as a defender of our Constitution's basic rights. Article 13
Clause (1) states that any laws enacted before to the commencement of this Constitution are void
to the extent that they are inconsistent with Part III of this Constitution, and Clause (2) states that
the state cannot create any legislation that is in violation of Part III of this Constitution; by this
way our forefathers protected our basic right from the influence of the legislatives and executers.
It includes within it the power of judicial review; it is the judiciary which can take care of every
action taken by legislatives towards the Part – III.

The notion of judicial review is adopted from the United States Constitution and is contained in
Articles 13, 32, and 136 of the Constitution in relation to the Supreme Court of India, as well as
Articles 226 and 227 in relation to the High Courts. In Keshvanda Bharti V. State of Kerala, the
Supreme Court of India, 191 proposed the "theory of basic structure," according to which the
legislature can alter the Constitution but not modify its basic structure, and proclaimed that
judicial authority is a fundamental component of the Constitution that cannot be taken away by
any procedure.

6.6 PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION (PIL)

Public interest litigation is a term adopted from American law that refers to lawsuits filed in a
court of law to preserve the public interest, such as pollution, terrorism, road safety, human
rights, public health, and, more recently, mob lynching. Any situation affecting the general
public's interest can be resolved by filing a PIL in a court of law, but that shall not be just as a
frivolous litigation filed for name or fame by any person.

Any citizen of India can file a PIL through a petition:

Under Article 32 in the Supreme Court,

191
AIR 1973 SC

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Under Article 226 in the High Court, and

Under Section 133 of the CrPC in the Court of Magistrate for seeking any reasonable remedy.

PIL is also played an important role in the matter of mob violence as it was firstly attracted the
attention of the Supreme Court of India through a PIL in Tehseen S. Poonawalla V. Union of
India and others, and the Apex Court considered it positively.

6.7 VERDICT'S OF THE SUPREME COURT ON RIGHT TO LIFE

The Supreme Court of India is considered as the guardian of the fundamental rights of the
citizens as well as of the Constitution itself, so being the supreme authority in judicial matters
and the defender of ordinary people's rights It is the Apex Court of the country's obligation to
take all necessary steps to defend the rights granted by the Constitution, and the same obligation
has been dutifully discharged by Hon'ble Court on a number of occasions. Nowadays, the cases
of mob violence are being increased rapidly in the society and the right to life is under threat, but
it is the judiciary which has undertaken all the responsibility on its own shoulders and
performing its duty with honesty and accountability.

(i) Right to Life & Personal Liberty


According to the Constitution, India's Parliament and state legislatures have the authority to
make laws in their respective jurisdictions. This ability isn't limitless. The judiciary is
empowered by the Constitution to decide on the constitutional legitimacy of all laws. If a
legislation passed by Parliament or state legislatures breaches any provision of the Constitution,
including Part III, the Supreme Court has the authority to declare the legislation illegal or ultra
viral. Despite this, the founding fathers intended for the Constitution to be a flexible rather than a
rigid foundation for governing.

The Supreme Court of India's judicial activism and interpretation of Article 21 of the Indian
Constitution delves into the reasons for judicial innovation and justifies the Supreme Court's role
in safeguarding people's fundamental rights when the legislative and executive institutions failed
to do so. To a certain degree, judicial activism derives from the inability of the state's other
apparatus to perform its tasks. Because the right to life and personal liberty is one of the most

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treasured and significant fundamental human rights around which other individual rights revolve,
study is critical. The right to life is, in reality, a study of the Supreme Court's role as a guardian
of fundamental human rights.. The Indian Constitution establishes Fundamental Rights in
Chapter III, which are protected by the constitution. If a private individual's actions amount to a
breach of personal liberty or deprivation of another person's life, such a violation would not
come within the Article 21 limitations. In this situation, the injured person's remedy would be
under Article 32 or 226 of the constitution, or under general law. However, when a private
individual's behaviour is sponsored by the state and infringes on the personal liberty or life of
another person, the conduct will very definitely fall under Article 21 of the Constitution, which
protects the life of a 'person.' Citizens and non-citizens are both included in the term "person."

Meaning of 'Right to Life'


'Everyone has a Right to Life, Liberty, and Personal Security.' Without a question, the right to
life is the most fundamental of all rights. All other rights contribute to the overall quality of life
and rely on the presence of life to operate. Because human rights can only be tied to living
beings, the right to life is likely to come first, because without it, none of the other rights would
be meaningful or purposeful. There would have been no Fundamental Rights worth mentioning
if Article 21 had been understood in its original sense. According to the American Declaration of
Independence (1776), "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,
and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among them are life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
In the case of Munn V. State of Illinois US, the United States Supreme Court quoted Justice
Field's opinion that "by the term "life" as used here, something more than a basic animal
existence is meant." 192As a consequence, it includes not only physical existence but also life
quality. It was the first time a lawsuit was filed on the definition of the word 'Life'.

In its widest definition, the Right to Liberty refers to a person's right not to be imprisoned, jailed,
or subjected to other types of unjustified physical force.Every person of India is guaranteed total
freedom and liberty from any type of harassment, repression, or exploitation by any government
or government power under this Constitution, and as a result, our Constitution guarantees that

192
94 U.S. 113 (1876)

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every Indian citizen lives a free, brave, and joyous life in dignity.

(ii) Changing Dimensions of the Right to Life and Personal Liberty Concept:
The Traditional Approach of the Supreme Court, It's impossible to understand the state of the
right to life without first understanding the traditional viewpoint. Article 21 declares that no one's
life or liberty can be taken away unless they follow the legal process.In the case of A.K. Gopalan
V. State of Madras, in which the validity of the Preventive Detection Act, 1950 was challenged,
the Supreme Court of India first questioned and interpreted this legal procedure.The primary
question was whether Art. 21 allowed for any technique approved by the legislature, or if the
system had to be fair and reasonable. 193The Petitioner attempted to persuade the Supreme Court
that the courts had the authority to determine whether the Preventive Detection Act of 1950, or
any other legislation restricting a person's personal liberty, is acceptable.

Article 19 was decoupled from Articles 21 and 22 by the Supreme Court. This viewpoint resulted
in an odd conclusion at the time. The case of Ram Singh V. Delhi Administration, mirrored this
position. The court refused to assess the constitutionality of the detection order under Article
19(1)(a) read with Article 19(2) when a person was detained under the Preventive Detention Act
for making words that were damaging to the maintenance of public order, ruling that even
though the right under Article 19(1)(a) was restricted, the right under Article 19(1)(a) was not
limited, the legitimacy of the preventive detention order under Article 19(2) could not be
evaluated because of the A. K. Gopalan decision, legislation allowing the restriction of personal
liberty did not belong under Art.19, and its validity was not to be established by the standards set
out in Article 19. Though over time, this firm stance relaxed, and R.C. Cooper V. Union of India
marked the start of a new trend. 194The Supreme Court used Article 19(1) (f) to examine the
legality of a statute adopted under Article 31(2), generally known as the Bank Nationalization
case. Before this instance, these two items were thought to be mutually exclusive. This decision
had such an influence on the Supreme Court's concept of basic rights being mutually
incompatible. That the Supreme Court recognised the force of this argument in the case of
Sambhu Nath Sarkar V. State of West Bengal, where the bench ruled that the court's approach in
the Bank Nationalization case had held the majority of the A.K. Gopalan case was incorrect,
193
AIR 1950 SC 27
194
AIR 1970 SC 564

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nullifying the Court's former verdict in Gopalan.

(iii) Personal Liberty in Its Many Facets


In the post-emergency period, the case of Maneka Gandhi V. Union of India represents a
landmark moment. 195 This case exemplifies how liberal trends have influenced the Supreme
Court's reading of Article 21 of the United Nations Charter. After the horrific events of the
emergency in 1975-77, when personal liberty was at its lowest, the judicial approach toward the
preservation of personal liberty underwent a significant transformation. The epoch characterised
as the darkest in Indian constitutional history, according to the Supreme Court's judgement in
A.D.M Jabalpur V. Shiva Kant Shukla. 196The case is known as the Habeas Corpus Case, and it
has received widespread condemnation from Indian academics. This case proved that, as
interpreted in A K Gopalan, Article 21 could not give any protection against any severe law
aiming at depriving a person of his life or personal liberty. After the emergency, it was clear that
the official apparatus had abused its ability to order preventative detention during the emergency,
and that something needed to be done to prevent a repetition of the scenario. Accordingly, the
44th Amendment to the Constitution was enacted to negate several amendments made in the
42nd (Indira Constitution), thus Articles 20 and 21 would never be suspended, even during an
emergency, and other essential rights would not be automatically suspended. It requires special
presidential order. This case has worked as a catalyst for court opinion on Article 21 to shift.

Right to life has a supreme place among all other ordinary rights, it is an auspicious right and
mere incidents of the mob or anything else has no authority to abridge it, the Supreme Court is
keen to protect the same and has made several positive efforts in this regard. The Apex Court has
proven in various cases that the violation of this right cannot be permitted at any price.

(iv) Right to livelihood


The victims of mob violence and even the offenders after completion of their punishment has the
right to livelihood and the same shall not be violated in any circumstances. The Supreme Court
first believed that Article 21's right to life did not encompass the right to livelihood. The
Supreme Court held in Re - Sant Ram, a case from before the Maneka Gandhi case, that the right
195
AIR 1978 SC
196
AIR 1976 SC 1207

133
to livelihood does not fit under the definition of life in Article 21.The Supreme Court, on the
other hand, changed its mind afterwards. Because the term "life" is defined in such a broad and
inclusive manner, the Court held that the right to life guaranteed by Article 21 encompasses the
right to livelihood. In Olga Tellis V. Bombay Municipal Corporation, 197 the Supreme Court
reasoned that the right to livelihood is derived from the right to life, because no one can exist
without the means of subsistence, i.e., the means of livelihood.
(v) Right to medical care
The Supreme Court declared in ParmanandaKatara V. Union of India 198, that life preservation is
of vital significance. The status quo ante cannot be restored once life has been lost. Doctors have
a responsibility to save the lives of mob victims without distinction.

(vi) Right to free legal aid


Right to get legal aid is also a fundamental right, without access of legal assistance one cannot
get justice and cannot prove his innocence. In the cases of mob lynching there may arises such
circumstances where immediate innocence cannot be proved and he requires proper legal aid to
overcome from the false charges. The Supreme Court declared in MadhavHayawandan Rao
Haskot V. State of Maharashtra that an accused who cannot afford legal representation is entitled
to legal aid at the state's expense. In the case of Hussainara Khatoon v. State of Bihar, the
Supreme Court declared that a prisoner may not be imprisoned for a period of time greater than
the court's sentence, otherwise the prisoner's right to life and liberty under Article 21 will be
violated.

In, State of Maharashtra V. ManubhaiPragajiVashi&ors 199 . As a result, the state and other
authorities will be able to offer free legal help and ensure that no person is denied access to
justice due to a disability; the Constitution's Articles 21 and 39A force these concerns. In M.H
Hoskot V. State of Maharashtra, Justice Krishna Iyer stated that providing free legal aid is the
State's responsibility, not the government's charity, and that a prisoner is entitled to a copy of the
judgement as well as free legal aid if he is unable to get legal counsel.

197
AIR 1986 SC 180
198
AIR 1989 SC 2039
199
(1995) SCC (5) 730

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(vii) Right to Speedy Trial
A speedy trial is a fundamental right enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution's guarantee of
life and personal liberty, and any accused who is denied this right may file a lawsuit in court to
have it enforced.In Hussainara Khatoon V. Home Secretary, State of Bihar, the Supreme Court
held that speedy trial is a basic right implicit in the guarantee of life and personal liberty inherent
in Article 21 of the Constitution, and that any accused who is denied this right is entitled to
approach the Supreme Court under Article 32 for the purpose of enforcing such right and the
Supreme Court has the authority to provide required directives to the State in order to fulfil its
constitutional obligations.

(viii) Right to claim Compensation:


The offender of an offence gets punishment for his wrong one but what about the victims and his
family members who suffers a lot after the death of their bread earner; nowadays, same
difficulties are being faced by the victims of mob violence and they shall be provided proper
remedies. The Supreme Court of India has also proved its dynamic and proactive involvement in
compensatory jurisprudence. State of Orissa V. NilabatiBehera, 200 for the first instance, the
Supreme Court directed the respondent, the State of Orissa, to pay the petitioner Rs.1,50,000
plus Rs.10,000 to the Supreme Court Legal Aid Committee. The Supreme Court found the right
to compensation to be a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution.
Previously, in Katri V. State of Bihar 201, the Court used its discretion in awarding compensation
to the victim. The Supreme Court granted Rs. 35000/- to the petitioner in Rudal Shah V. State of
202
Bihar, who was imprisoned for 14 years notwithstanding his acquittal ruling.

6.8 SUPREME COURT’S VIEW ON MOB LYNCHING

The Supreme Court of India has directed the Central and State governments to adopt a robust law
to prevent mob lynching and to take preventative steps to stop the transmission of information
through web-based networking media platforms that might incite a crowd to lynch. The Supreme
Court instructed the police to file a FIR under Section 153A of the Indian Penal Code and other
similar laws against anyone who engage in such activities. While trying to make the preliminary
200
AIR 1993 SC 1960
201
AIR 1981 SC
202
AIR 1983 SC 1086

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procedure speedier, the Supreme Court has proposed everyday preliminary in quick track courts
and greatest discipline to the charged in crowd lynching cases.

In particular, states have been advised to make disciplinary move against cops who have
neglected to counteract such episodes disregarding having earlier information on the equivalent
or deliberately neglect to initiate criminal procedures against those included.

The protests should be read in conjunction with Section 153 A, which the Supreme Court has
rightly addressed in its request, because they are also contemptuous and frequently mutual. If a
horde arrangement is identifying with the development of an unlawful gathering can be
summoned. This, whenever done each time an episode like this happens, will be adequate to
manage such events. Be that as it may, that isn't occurring. What is the need for a different
enactment when the current law's provisions aren't being carried out properly? You are
essentially not tending to anything by passing a law. 203

Mob lynchings have not lately increased in number; rather, they are evolving, and the nature of
the transgression is changing. Crowds are attacking those who are allegedly 'youngster abductors'
after pursuing Muslims who eat bovine meat. First and foremost, there is nothing that
characterises detest infractions in a point-by-point manner. Section 153 A is the key region that
we may bring into the picture here. Rather of creating a new legislation, the Parliament might
consider making the necessary amendments to the Penal Code.

We might have a correction in the IPC where the Parliament may define disdain or a pre-
determined judgement towards a network based on what they consume, similar to what we saw
in Bangalore and Assam, when people were suspected of being kidnappers because of a
WhatsApp forward. Loathe wrongdoings can manifest itself in a variety of disciplines and in
different ways; the IPC can be updated to incorporate these into the classification of offences and
give the indictment greater power.

203
https://www.firstpost.com/india/supreme-courts-order-on-mob-lynching-is-strong-but-new-law-will-be-useless-as-long-as-existing-rules-arent-
implemented-4759151.html

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6.9 LANDMARK JUDGEMENT OF THE SUPREME COURT

Tehseen S. Poonawala V. Union of India 204 , for this situation Supreme Court gave rules as
preventive, therapeutic and corrective measures for averting the developing rate of lynching in
India. For this situation, the Supreme Court didn't outline its judgment exclusively around the
reasonable limits of hate wrongdoings. It utilized different terms including focused on savagery,
lynching, horde brutality, vigilantism and abhor wrongdoings, to depict the issue.Undoubtedly,
NCRB does gather information on collective mobs and commonly roused killings.

The Supreme Court's landmark decision is a significant step forward in the reform and protection
of human rights. The Court condemned lynchings in crowds across the country, saying that it is
the responsibility of both the federal and state governments to prevent, remedy, and treat
lynchings. "When any centre gathering with some form of thinking goes wild," the court said, "it
generates political agitation, commotion, issue, and, in the long run, it rises to a harsh society." It
declared, "Directing the Center and states to take serious steps to prevent lynchings,"It was also
stated that "Wrongdoing knows no religion and neither the culprit nor the injured individual can
be seen through the viewpoint of race, position, class or religion." The Court additionally
included that, "State has the essential obligation to cultivate a common, pluralistic and multi-
social request to permit free play of thoughts and convictions and conjunction of commonly
opposing points of view. Despise violations must be stopped from developing in any way before
they bring about a rule of fear."

The Court additionally maintained the forces of the law requirement organizations and included
that, "It is the obligation of the law implementation offices and the examiners to bring the
charged people under the watchful eye of the law arbitrating specialists, who, with their natural
preparing and feeling of equity, scrutinize the materials expedited record, observe the
arrangements of law and pass the judgment."

The Court accorded the greatest extreme capacity to the power of law by prohibiting mobocracy
protests, saying that what law grants can't be removed by anything save the core notion of law.
The court in this way characterized the objective which law looks to accomplish in a popularity
based society by saying that the administrators should avert the wrongdoings and make the

204
AIR 2018 SC 3354

137
individuals mindful of the equivalent. Nobody is qualified to shake the establishment of law and
on the off chance that anybody attempts to violate the authority of law jar in the lanes that in the
end lead to an environment that witnesses carnage and tears. 205

The Court at long last finished up by showing the requirement for usage of law at each stage and
coordinated Center and the State for the solution of essential rules which incorporate the
preventive measures as well as therapeutic and corrective measures too. Usually, the Apex
Court's decision directing Parliament to pass legislation against lynching will convey the
impression that everything is well in the world and that minorities are no longer at risk of being
victims of mob violence. The Parliament should take into account the law's desperation and
make every attempt to enact legislation that will help to save humanity from extinction.

The Supreme Court has issued far-reaching regulations to limit vandalism by warring crowds in
Kodungallur Film Society V. Union of India and Ors 206.The PIL documented by Kodungallur
Film Society looked for surrounding of rules to deflect enormous scale demonstrations of
brutality and hooliganism did by fundamentalist outfits and periphery components for the sake of
open fights. During the "Padmavat" unrest, the PIL was documented in the context of unbridled
destruction perpetrated by KarniSena members. The main request in the PIL was for the Central
and State governments to immediately follow the regulations set forth by the Court in this case.
In State of AP V. Destruction of Public and Private Properties case, 207 "No one has the privilege
to become self-designate watchman of the law and coercively oversee their elucidation of the law
and others, particularly not with vicious methods. Horde savagery runs against the very center of
our built-up lawful standards since it signals bedlam and rebellion and the State must secure its
residents against the illicit and unforgivable demonstrations of such gatherings", expressed the
judgment created by Justice Khanwikar for the seat.

The Supreme Court, while considering the guidelines, or recommendations, for the destruction of
public and private property, took into account the issue of mob violence. “The Supreme Court
ruled that states had a responsibility to guarantee that individuals or organisations did not take
the law into their own hands in order to prevent unfortunate situations and criminality, which

205
Tehseen S. Poonawala v. Union of India, W.P. (C) No. 754/2016, para 23
206
CWP NO.330 OF 2018
207
(2009) 5 SCC 212

138
might involve property damage. The suggestions spell out how the state and law enforcement
agencies should respond to the threat of mob violence, including lynching and vigilantism, and
assign responsibility and accountability to authorities to prevent such tragedies, as well as
punitive measures to dissuade law enforcement agencies from abdicating their responsibilities.”
The rules for auxiliary and preventive measures incorporate the heading to the Nodal officials (to
be designated according to bearings in Tehseen Poonawala case) to facilitate with neighborhood
crisis administrations, including police headquarters, fire detachments, emergency clinic, and
therapeutic administrations and debacle the executives specialists during episodes of crowd
viciousness to have an exhaustive and merged reaction to the circumstance.

(i) Certain different rules are as per the following:

The ideas outlined below are not exhaustive, but rather serve to outline the broad contours of the
actions that must be completed, notwithstanding the suggestions/headings provided. In the
208
Matter of the Destruction of Public and Private Property:

A. Structural and preventive measures

a) In addition to the requirements imposed on the Nodal Officer(s) by Tehseen Poonawalla, 209the
said Nodal Officer(s) would be responsible for compiling and maintaining a list of the many
social foundations in the region, such as theatres, cinema corridors, music scenes, execution
lobbies and focuses, and craftsmanship exhibitions, and pinpoint helpless social foundations and
property which have been assaulted/harmed by horde savagery in the course of the last 5 (five)
years. This rundown would be refreshed all the time to represent any new openings/closings of
foundations.

b) notwithstanding the restriction against weaponry set down in section 12 (II) of In Re:
Destruction of Public and Private Properties 210 any individual saw as conveying precluded
weaponry, authorized or something else, during fights/showings would by all appearances be
dared to have an aim to submit savagery and be continued in such manner according to law.

208
Supra
209
AIR 2018 SC 3354
210
(2009) 5 SCC 212

139
c) State governments should establish Rapid Response Teams that are well-prepared to handle
mob brutality and can be deployed quickly. These groups can likewise be positioned around
defenseless social foundations as referenced hereinabove.

d) Special help lines should be established by state governments to cope with crowd violence.

e) The State Police shall create and maintain a digital data gateway on its website and web-based
application(s) for documenting incidents of horde brutality and pulverisation of public and
private property.

B. Lynching: The Supreme Court has taken a hard action against states and UTs failing to
follow the judgement

Only 9 of the 28 states and 2 of the 9 Union Territories (UTs) have so far agreed to the Supreme
Court's July 17 demand for a significant number of soldiers to deal with mob violence and cow
vigilantism occurrences across the country, according to the court.

A court headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra gave the remaining states and UTs another week to
complete their tasks, telling them that any failure would be obvious and that their home
secretaries should show up by then.

"We direct the rest of the states and UTs to document the consistency reports in seven days. If
the reports are not recorded, the home secretaries of the defaulting states should show up by and
by," the seat, which likewise included Justices A. M. Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud said.

The court also ordered the Rajasthan government to provide a report within seven days detailing
its actions in the alleged lynching of rancher Rakbar Khan on July 20 in the state's Alwar
area.Earlier to that, it had served notice to the state government in response to a plea by
Congresswoman Tehseen Poonawala, who sought the start of contempt proceedings against
Rajasthan officials, including the Chief Secretary and the police force, for allegedly violating the
Supreme Court's order in the lynching case.

It also cooperated with the Center, states, and UTs to ensure that its headlines on the ruling on
mob brutality received widespread publicity. It urged that they provide information on ways to
reduce herd savagery on their websites so that people are aware of the options available to them.

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C. The Supreme Court of India's recommendations on criminalising mob lynching

Tehseen S. Poonawalla V. Union of India was recently decided by the Supreme Court and others
on 30.07.2018 (Order), declaring that the fear of the law deters wrongdoings in a civilised
society, and therefore instructing the Parliament of India to pass an unusual statute forbidding
lynching.

D. The Supreme Court's eleven-point prescription for ending mob lynching is as follows:

The Supreme Court condemned incidents of crowd lynching around the country and requested
Parliament to pass legislation to address the wrongdoing, which jeopardises the rule of law and
the social fabric of the country. The top court suggested a number of categories, including
preventative, healing, and correctional advancements, to manage the wrongdoing:

1. The state governments will designate a senior police in each region to take preventative
actions in the event of lynchings or other forms of crowd violence.
2. The state governments will quickly identify the locations, subdivisions, and towns where
lynchings and mob violence have occurred in the recent past.
3. Any difficulties with inter-region co-appointment will be brought to the attention of the DGP
in order to develop a mechanism for dealing with lynching and mob brutality.
4. Every police will be responsible for scattering a throng, which, as he would like to believe,
tends to produce viciousness under the pretext of vigilantism or whatever else.
5. The states and the central government should announce via radio, television, and other forms
of media, including official websites, that lynching and mob violence will not be tolerated if
actual results are achieved.
6. Put a halt to the spread of dangerous and irresponsible communications, recordings, and other
materials on various internet networking platforms. File a police report under the appropriate
laws against those who distribute such messages.
7. Ensure that the relatives of the persons in issue are not provoked in any way.
8. A lynching/horde brutality harmed individual recompense conspiracy would be put up by
state governments.

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9. Cases of lynching and horde viciousness will be explicitly attempted by assigned court/quick
track courts reserved for that reason in each area. The preliminary will ideally be finished up
inside a half year.
10. To set a harsh model in instances of horde viciousness and lynching, the preliminary court
should commonly grant greatest endless supply of the blamed individual.
11. If it is discovered that a cop or an official of the area organization has neglected to satisfy his
obligation, it will be considered as a demonstration of conscious carelessness. 211

The Supreme Court has additionally prescribed the Parliament to make a different offense for
lynching and give sufficient discipline to the equivalent. As required, the Ministry of Home
Affairs met with various stakeholders and agreed that the Ministry of Legislation will decide
whether to enact a new law or alter the present Indian Penal Code 1860 to include a provision
against crowd lynching.

6.10 MEASURES SUGGESTED BY THE APEX COURT

In Tehseen S. Poonawalla V. Union of India and Others 212the Supreme Court of India issued the
Following regulations for the Central and State Governments to follow. These are the following:

A. Preventive Measures

1. The state governments will choose a Nodal Officer in each region, who will be a senior
police who does not report to the Superintendent of Police. One of the DSP rank officials in the
region will assist the Nodal Officer in taking efforts to prevent instances of crowd violence and
lynching. They will form a special squad to gather intelligence on those who are likely to do such
wrongdoings or who are disseminating hate speeches, inflammatory utterances, and fake news.

2. The state governments will immediately identify the Districts, Sub-Divisions, and
Villages where lynching and crowd savagery have occurred in the recent past. The procedure of
distinguishing proof ought to be done inside a time of three weeks from the date of this

211
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/to-end-mob-lynching-supreme-court-gives-an-11-point-prescription/story-
pdknxkMYd3R27nSniP.HTML
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2018 S.C.C. Online SC 696

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judgment, in that capacity times pan is adequate to complete the assignment in the present quick
universe of information assortment.

3. The Secretary, Home Department of the concerned States will give orders/warnings to
the Nodal Officers of the concerned locale for guaranteeing that the official responsible for the
Police Stations of the distinguished territories are additional wary if any occurrence of horde
viciousness inside their purview goes to their notification.

4. Each police will be required to disperse a gathering by acting in his capacity under
Section 129 of the CrPC, which, in his opinion, tends to produce cruelty or unleash the
destruction of lynching under the guise of vigilantism or something elsedevelop a strategy to
limit the spread of hostile content via various online networking platforms or other means of
influencing such attitudes. The Nodal Officer will likewise try endeavors to destroy unfriendly
condition against any network or station which is focused in such occurrences.

5. Ordinary survey gatherings (at least once a quarter) with all Nodal Officers and State
Police Intelligence heads will be conducted by the Director-General of Police/Secretary, Home
Department of relevant States.Nodal Officers shall bring any inter-location co-appointment
difficulties to the attention of the DGP in order to develop a method to address lynching and
crowd brutality-related concerns at the state level.

6. Each police will be required to disperse a gathering by acting in his capacity under
Section 129 of the CrPC, which, in his opinion, tends to produce cruelty or unleash the
destruction of lynching under the guise of vigilantism or something else.

7. The Government of India's Home Department must step up to the plate and work in
collaboration with State Governments to sharpen law enforcement organisations and to include
all partners in recognising steps to prevent mob savagery and lynching against any standing or
network, as well as to carry out the protected goal of social fairness and the Rule of Law.

8. The Director-General of Police will brief the Superintendents of Police on police patrols
in sensitive areas, taking into account previous events and the Director-General’s perspective. It
means that there should be seriousness in observing so that counter-social elements involved in

143
such wrongdoings are discouraged and stay within the bounds of the law, thereby avoiding the
temptation to go rogue.

9. Lynching and mass brutality of any type will be confronted with genuine legal
repercussions, the central and state governments should emphasise on radio, television, and other
media platforms, including the official websites of the Department of Homeland Security and the
State Police.

10. The Central Government, as well as State Governments, will be responsible for devising
a method to control and prevent the spread of unreliable and unstable messages, recordings, and
other information on different internet-based life stages that might lead to lynching.

11. The police will file a complaint against people who circulate inaccurate and dangerous
texts and recordings with material that is likely to encourage crowd brutality and lynching of any
type under Section 153A of the Indian Penal Code and other vital legal laws.

12. The Central Government will also provide appropriate titles to the State Governments
that reflect the magnitude and seriousness of the situation as well as the steps to be taken. 213

B. Remedial Measures

1. Regardless of the State Police's precautionary measures, if the jurisdictional police


headquarters receives notice from the local police that a lynching or mob brutality incident has
happened, the jurisdictional police headquarters will promptly file a FIR under the essential
provisions of the IPC and other applicable laws.

2. It will be the responsibility of the Station House Officer, in whose police headquarters
such FIR is filed, to immediately notify the Nodal Officer in the area, who will ensure that the
family of the individual in question are not subjected to any additional provocation(s).

3. Investigation in such offenses will be observed by the Nodal Officer who will be
compelled by a solemn obligation to guarantee that the examination is done viably and the
charge-sheet in such cases is recorded inside the statutory period from the date of enrolment of
the FIR or capture of the denounced, all things considered.

213
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144
4. Within one month on the date of this verdict, the state governments will put up a
mechanism savagery wounded individual reimbursement scheme based on the provisions of
Section 357A of the CrPC.The state governments will take into account the concept of
substantial harm, mental harm, and loss of profit, as well as the expenditures associated with
legitimate and therapeutic expenditures, in calculating compensation under the proposed
plan.The above-mentioned reimbursement scheme shall also include a provision for interim
assistance to be provided to the individual in question (s) or the deceased's closest family within
thirty days after the occurrence of a crowd lynching.

5. Lynching and horde viciousness will be deliberately tried in each region by assigned
courts/Fast Track Courts dedicated for that purpose. Preliminary hearings will be held in such
courts regularly. The preliminary will ideally be finished up inside a half year from the date of
taking perception. We may rush to include that this course will apply to pending cases. The
District Judge will allocate those cases beyond what many would consider possible to one
jurisdictional court to guarantee speedy transfer thereof. State governments, and in particular
Nodal Officers, will be responsible for ensuring that the indicting office executes its work
properly in support of the preliminary investigation.

6. To set a harsh model in instances of horde viciousness and, the endless supply of the
denounced individual (s), the preliminary court should usually grant the most extreme sentence
as accommodated different offenses under the arrangements of the IPC.

7. On the application of an observer or the open investigator in connection with such


observe or all alone movement, the courts attempting cases of crowd viciousness and lynching
may take such steps as it deems appropriate for assurance and concealment of the observer's
character and address.

8. In situations of horde brutality and lynching, the unhappy victim (s) or close relatives of
the deceased will be quickly notified of any court procedures, and he or she will be able to be
heard at a preliminary hearing in regard to uses such as bail, release, discharge, and parole
reported by the charged individuals. They'll also be able to submit notes about their convictions,
vindications, and condemnations in writing.

145
9. In cases of horde cruelty, the injured individual(s) or the deceased's closest family and
lynching will get a free legitimate guide if the person so picks and connect any supporter of
his/her decision from among those taking a crack at the lawful guide board under the Legal
Services Authorities Act, 1987. 214

C. Punitive Measures

1. Wherever it is discovered that a cop or an official of the local organization has neglected
to agree to the previously mentioned headings to avoid as well as research and/or encourage
quick preliminary of any wrongdoing of horde viciousness and lynching, the equivalent will be
considered as a demonstration of intentional carelessness and furthermore, he/she has engaged in
regrettable behaviour for which appropriate action must be taken against him/her, and which is
not limited to departmental activities under administration regulations. The authority of the
major example will make the departmental move to its clear consequence, ideally within a half
year.

2. If it is proven that (I) such official (s) did not expect the occurrence while having prior
information on it, or (II) such official (s) did not anticipate the occurrence despite having prior
knowledge on it, the States are directed to initiate disciplinary action against the appropriate
authorities, according to this Court's decision in Arumugam Servai V. Territory of Tamil
Nadu, 215(ii) such authority (s) did not quickly capture and create criminal processes against the
guilty parties in the case where the incident had recently occurred." Undoubtedly, the
previouslymentioned rules are more than adequate to put a keep an eye on lynching rehearses
any place in India. What is required is straightforward and earnest usage concerning concerned
specialists.

214
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215
(2011) 6 SCC 405

146
CHAPTER - VII

DATA ANALYSIS

7.1 INTRODUCTION
Data analysis is the core of a research process and thus holds an important position in supporting
its sufficiency and compliance with the available requirements. Since the process of data analysis
is carried out through practical observations and feedbacks from various impact groups. The role
of data based analysis is more centralized in researches related to social and political issues such
as mob lynching 216 . The fact that personal belief and emotional considerations of common
population influences the initiation, resultants and aftermath of such incidences makes it an
important constituent. It helps the researcher in collecting real-time information, data and
statistics that have a central role in building the provisions for understanding and controlling
such incidences. This section of the research is based on defining and understanding the various
constituents that are important for establishing a detailed discussion of each of the fundamentals
that related to the mob lynching incidences 217. A detailed information collection process that is
guided by data and statistics is also being used for promoting better relevance across the subject.
This section will add a suitable amount of value to this research and also bring clarity of
understanding among the common population of India. Promoting information orientation and a
distinctive approach to data management over the concerned subject is acknowledged throughout
the analysis. The methods of data analysis used across this assessment are quite sufficient in
bringing remarkable conclusions for the wide range of data available. It can be considered as an
important entity to bring sufficient understanding of the reasons and impacts of mob lynching by
assessing quality information and data 218.

216
Vijay, D. (2020). ‘Privations’ as a Development Concern: A Study of Two Communities in the National Capital

Region of India. Indian Journal of Public Administration, 66(1), 43-59.

217
Sehgal, I. (2019). A FRAGMENTED INDIA. Defence Journal, 23(3), 80.

218
Mirchandani, M. (2018). Digital hatred, real violence: Majoritarian radicalisation and social media in India. ORF Occasional Paper, 167.

147
The basic idea behind this data analysis process is to structure, organize and extract the actual
reasons and results that are associated with the incidence of mob lynching in India. It will be
helpful in finding a better pattern and theme based analysis of the subject. The assessment
process is also linked to improvise the overall suitability that is attached to this subject and its
final resultant. Since, facts and figures are put in to analysis; the overall impact caused by this
data analysis process will be quite significant 219. Data analysis helps in shaping the process and
including a better overview of the subject that is being analyzed. In this case too, it will help the
researcher in building a more authentic and suitable understanding of the various perspectives
that relate to mob lynching incidences in India.

7.2 MAIN OBJECTIVE AND PURPOSE

The main objective and purpose behind this data analysis is to extract the highest possible
amount of similarity across the subject and responses that are being collected. The researcher has
used a questionnaire to collect information from a wide range of individuals. The questionnaire
includes more than 500 participants for recording and analyzing their perspective on the chosen
subject of mob lynching in India 220 . It also includes some basic information such as their
occupation, age, location and gender of the participants in order to analyze the whole process of
data analysis. A significant amount of interventions are also selected to keep a diverse range of
answers across the questionnaire responses. It includes a diverse range of respondents belonging
to different age groups 221. This provides a multidimensional understanding of the subject and
creates a clearer overview of the related factors. The questions used across this data collection
process are mentioned in the below sections.

The Questionnaire used in this retrospectively study was carefully analyzed to ensure that the data
gathered was presented clearly with the aid of tables, percentage and graphs, whatever possible.

219
Misra, V. P., &Narula, M. P. (2020).Impact of Social Media on Indian Elections. Studies in Indian Place Names, 40(3), 3663-3675.

220
Adcock, C. (2018). Cow Protection and Minority Rights in India: Reassessing Religious Freedom. Asian Affairs, 49(2), 340-354.

221
Mehdi, Z. (2017). PHOBIA OF RELIGION: RELIGION AS ISLAM a political argument and a psychoanalytic inquiry of Islamophobia in

India. International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies, 14(3), 222-244

148
The Questionnaire comprises two sections.

Section -A: In this section the gender distribution, age distribution and occupation of the research
population is discussed.

Section- B:In this section there are 24 questions related to the mob lynching.

According to the findings peoples belonged to different professions. Majority of the data
belonged to students that is 44.9%, others are related to professionals that is 18.3%, data
belonged to service are 18.1% and other are related to different fields.

149
Majority of the cases presented 55% between the age group of 19 to 30 years, followed by 30% in
the 31 to 50 years age group and rest of the responses in the age group of 51 to 70 years.

According to the findings more than 63.7% of the subjects under investigation were males
indicated that males are higher susceptible gender than women who accounted for only 35.7%
sample.

150
7.3 QUESTIONNAIRES

In context of the first question, it can be analyzed that the majority of the answers are in support
of developing a separate law related to mob lynching. The majority of responses collected agrees
or strongly agree with the need of a dedicated law for mob lynching incidents. These answers
can be used to acknowledge the intensity of such incidences and its diverse range of impacts.
People from all age groups and occupation status support the availability of a separate legislative
provision 222. This is evident in justifying the increased number of mob lynching incidences and
the threat it has developed for the common population. Although, there are some responses that
disagree or strongly disagree with this fact; But since their strength is significantly low they can
be less considerable in terms of defining the final conclusions. The responses recorded across
this particular question is also liable to depict the fact that the respondents who are
geographically close to any of the mob lynching incidence have a more supportive overview on
development of a new law over this issue 223. On contrast to this, the population which is not

222
Rahman, K. (2017). Indian Secularism and Religious Minorities: The Case of Muslims. Policy Perspectives: The Journal of the Institute of

Policy Studies, 14(2), 35-53.

223
Jaffrelot, C. (2017). India's democracy at 70: Toward a Hindu state?. Journal of Democracy, 28(3), 52-63.

151
attached geographically to areas of mob lynching incidences has a less supportive ideology for
any such law.

Majority of responses to the second question support the fact that mob lynching has become a
recurring phenomenon in India and it is surging hate violence targeting religious and caste
minorities. Most of the answers across this question have been recorded as strongly agree and
agree 224. Thus the authenticity of this statement is largely defined across these sections. The
operability factor which is associated with the increasing number of mob lynching cases across
India can be analyzed with the hate violence factor that exists across the Indian society since
ages. Hate violence is an issue that relates to Indian society traditionally. But with the changing
regime and increased support to the majority based political regime, this particular entity has
strengthened to a higher level. And this is one of the most suitable reason behind the drastic
increase in cases of mob lynching 225. However, a small group of respondents do not consider this
as the reason and this disagree or strongly disagree with this question. But since most of the
responses are in support of this statement, it can be used as the basis of further analysis.

224
Sekhr, A. (2019). Once decoded, there are flaws in Rajasthan’s proposed anti-lynching law
225
Kashwan, P. (2020, May). Public-Facing Scholarship in India After Modi. In Kairos: A Journal of Critical Symposium (Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 26)

152
Again third question inquires the respondents about their respective opinion on development of
India as a mob lynching destination. This question has been very direct and thus is intended to
create a more detailed significance over the subject 226. The availability of such aspects are also
entitled to promote a clear picture of the present situation across the various regions in India. The
answers to this question have been mixed and thus establishing a concrete conclusion across this
factor is not feasible. There are equal numbers of supporting and opposing answers which reflect
that in current context, India cannot be considered as a destination for mob lynching. The mixed
responses are from all age and occupation groups that exist across this segment 227.

226
Farooq, G. (2017). Politics of Fake News: how WhatsApp became a potent propaganda tool in India. Media Watch, 9(1), 106-117.

227
Mukherjee, R. R. (2020). Indian Judiciary and the Neutrality Roulette. Rishi Raj, Anuparna, Jurisperitus: The Law Journal, 2(1).

153
The next questions related to the opinion of masses over criminalizing the incidences of mob
lynching. The responses collected across this question are sufficient in restoring the faith in
humanity as almost 99% of the responses are in favor of criminalizing it. These responses
suggest that the common population can be held accountable for supplying their respective
efforts in building better resultants across the process and improving the quality of operation 228.
It can be a major help for the research as it defines the true spirit of India people and their
respective belief in the available judicial system.

228
MISHRA, A. (2019). Existentialism and Indian Thought on Existence: Towards an Integrative Approach. Labyrinth: An International Refereed

Journal of Postmodern Studies, 10(3).

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Again majority of the respondent belief that availability of a strong law can be the ultimate
solution to stop mob lynching incidences in India. Almost all of the respondents across this
questionnaire consider that a strong law can help in preventing mob lynching incidences up to a
large scale 229 . These responses are also significant in defining the fact that the current legal
provisions related to mob lynching incidences are not up to the mark and thus changes and
updates are required.

The next question is useful in defining the understanding of mob lynching among the common
population. The respondent’s reactions are completely in accordance with the correct definition of
mob lynching. Majority of the people consider it as an extra judicial killing performed by a mob.
Thus, the answers obtained across this segment are liable to define the fact that the common
population understands the core nature of mob lynching.

229
Gopinath, S. (2020). Body and Nation: Contesting Spaces and Narratives of Nationalism. In Deleuzian and Guattarian Approaches to

Contemporary Communication Cultures in India (pp. 33-51). Springer, Singapore.

155
Although, the next question that relates mob lynching with religion has not received sufficient
support. The respondents in this case do not consider religion as a possible reason for mob
lynching incidences. That is the reason that this question has received a large amount of
disagreement across the available answers. Although a small section of the respondents have
played a significant role by supporting this fact.

Majority of the respondents consider WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter or media in general as a
responsible factor for instigating mob lynching incidences. But this aspect is also contradicted by a
wide number of disagreements across the subject. A large number of people do not consider these

156
media platforms as a possible reason for mob lynching. Thus, a mixed conception across this
subject is built throughout the available respondents 230.

In addition to this, the answers to the next question illustrates that the people of India are suitably
aware of the incidences related to mob lynching that are happening across the surroundings. Since
most of the participants agree to the fact that they are well aware of such instances happing
throughout the country.

230
Heidenreich, L. (2019). Bullets and Fire: Lynching and Authority in Arkansas, 1840–1950. The Journal of Southern History, 85(1), 157-160.

157
The majority of these respondents are also not confident about the sufficiency of the provisions
of IPC and CrPC. are sufficient to tackle the incidences of mob lynching happening throughout
the country. The obligations for these judicial provisions are not considered adequate by the
majority of population.

The role of political conspiracy or ineffective government machinery in increased number of


mob lynching incidences have also been considered as a complex subject and thus the responses

158
are mixed. There are almost equal amount of respondents who consider these as a major cause
and also there are some sections who consider these as non-influential factors in case of mob
lynching.

The federal government has formed two high-level committees to explore ways and legal
frameworks to prevent mob lynchings, one of which is led by Union Home Minister Rajnath
Singh. Majority of responses suggested that that is the better way to deal with the incidents of
mob lynching. But mixed responses were received from the other respondents not in the favour
of committee. They suggested that there are so many ways to deal with the incidents of mob
lynching.

159
Again next question indicated majority of the responses showed that is the best step of Rajasthan
government to pass a bill to criminalize the offenders involved in mob lynching. Most of people
believed that due to this effort lynching incidents could not be happened and there is a strict
provision in Rajasthan anti lynching bill to punish the wrongdoer. But some other responses are
criticized about that bill.

According to responses there is mixed opinion about the government whether to deal the
incidents of mob lynching. According to the finding people is losing their faith and trust on the
government so they are taking the law in their hand. That is the reason that question has received
large number of disagreement across the available responses.

160
According to the data collected majority of the respondents are in the favour that people are
unaware about the fake news and rumors due to various reasons, so due to this fake news and
misleading statements incidents of mob lynching are increasing day to day; Illiteracy that makes
people not to think but act on rumors.

161
Honorable Supreme Court has recommended many guidelines to central and state government
how to stop the cases of mob lynching. According to the findings 95% responses are in the
favour that parliament should enact a new anti-lynching bill.

The next question mention about the duties and responsibilities of government to appoint SP as a
nodal officer to investigate the area where the most of cases of mob violence happened and
prepare a report and take an action to prevent these types of incidents. Majority of the
respondents that followed by 88% in the favour that government are following diligently the
directions of court.

162
Next question put on a question mark on the administration not to take timely action against the
wrongdoer of crime. According to the data 84% respondents are agreed on this point. That
showed the lacunas in the administration not to take action on timely and grow the crime with
impunity.

19. Whether these events have raised questions on not only the institutional capacity to enforce
law and order but wider questions regarding history and civics of Indian society, its social fabric
and spirit of tolerance, brotherhood.

526 responses

163
6

4
Agree

3 strongly agree
Denied
2 silent

0
Category 1 Category 2 Category 3 Category 4

According to the findings 81% respondents agreed this question and among them more than 15%
were strongly agreed because without the feeling of brotherhood it is impossible to eliminate this
evil from the society. Only 14% people were disagreeing with this question as it is not sufficient in
present time to eradicate or tackle the situation.

164
According to the finding respondents are strongly agreed followed by 90% that various programs
should be held on various level i.e. schools or college level related to topic of moral values and
ethics. Now a day's people are forgetting their moral values due to the modernization.

Again majority of the respondents followed by 90% are strongly agreed that mob lynching is
against the spirit of our constitution. Main finding is that our Constitution provides fundamental
rights and duties enshrined in part 3rd to every citizens and non citizens such as right to life,
liberty, equality and to profess or faith in any religion. So mob lynching violates the provision of
Constitution i.e. Rule of law.

22. Is there any International effect of Mob lynching in India?

526 Responses

165
6

Agree
3
Strongly Agree
Silent
2

0
Category 1 Category 2 Category 3 Category 4

67% people agreed with this view and among them more than 18% were strongly agreed as any
event which affects the life and liberty of human beings in any part of this world also affects
every country and every individual like killing of George Floyed in USA became the social
movement in each and every part of this world and started the “Black lives matter” campaign.

166
Next question described the impact of terrorism and majority of respondents are in favour that
mob lynching be classified under terrorism in Indian law because impacts of mob lynching and
terrorism are same. Terrorism can strike at the foundations of government, destabilize civil
society, jeopardize peace and security, threat social and economic development and affect certain
group. The physical consequences of terrorism related act and violation can include soft tissue
injury, broken bones and limb, disability and even the death same as it is in case of mob
lynching. But 35% respondents criticized this statement.

According to the data 55% respondents are agreed and 30% respondents are strongly agreed that
delay and lengthy process is the main reason of increasing the cases of mob lynching. Delhi rape
case is the example of delay and lengthy process of law.

The answers provided are highly influential in bringing a complete understanding of the subject
and define its overall suitability segment that exists throughout the common population.
Theresponses provided are based entirely on the individual opinion of the participants and they
are not at all influenced by any external or internal segment for providing such responses. The
operability factor that this data analysis illustrates is relative to the fact that the understanding of
common population in many subjects and areas are quite clear. But in alternate to this, in some
sections such as the relativeness between religion and mob lynching incidences are not

167
acknowledged by the respondents 231 . This defines that in some of the areas there is huge
misconception or lack of sufficient information for the available respondents. This may be an
important issue for the process of controlling and limiting mob lynching incidences throughout
India. As the respondents across this questionnaire are linked to different age groups,
occupations and geographical locations, the analysis of their responses are suitable in
acknowledging the widespread understanding among people with similar properties. This data
analysis process is sufficient in creating a real time understanding of the prospects that are based
on mob lynching incidences across the country 232 . The obligations and acknowledgement of
sufficiency throughout the process are increased and strengthened by this analysis. It can be
useful in defining more people friendly provisions to control the mob lynching incidences. Thus
enhancing the overall support fundamentals that are related to the process of controlling and
restricting mob lynching incidences.

231
Bhartiya, N. (2018). Rise of the Right Wing: Indian Context. Advanced Science Letters, 24(5), 3441-3443.

232
Rodrigues, U. M. (2019). Can Indian journalism survive the onslaught of social media?. Global media and communication, 15(2), 151-157.

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CHAPTER-VIII

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS

Life is priceless, and the cutting-edge state is obligated to protect the lives of its citizens. Under
Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, the state bears the responsibility of ensuring the lives of a
large number of people. Be that as it may, the ongoing expanding episodes of horde lynching and
the occurrences of slaughter are a test to the legislature. These violations should be checked to
ensure the majority rule the government of the country. During this investigation, we have
determined that the rate at which man butchering is increasing necessitates the enactment of
novel legislation to handle the crime of crowd lynching and slaughter. Furthermore, the country's
customary law is insufficient to handle such offences. Mob lynching and brutality are some of
the harshet, callous, and corrupt forms of violence. Lynching is depends upon the behaviour of
society and it is being accepted. There are no role of religion, caste, race, beleif, or group of
people. Not a single reason behind the iginition of lynching is greater than the other. Any action
leading to violence must be punished. Racial outbreaks actions against Nigerian students who
were suspected of doing drugs, people suspected of carrying beef, local communities are given
fatwā to kill people, as well as the murder of a 70-year sage that happened recently and two
others by an angry mob, are all different aspects of mob lynching. A similar pattern follows
throughout, an all-out notion of the judge, jury, and executioner acting on the very occasion, the
most talked-about sentence, enhancing the sense of justice through lynching and mutilating,
while the gathering delightfully witnesses the show. In the Kangaroo Court case, the Supreme
Court of India was overshadowed by such "extra-judicial killings" and stated categorically that
lynching was unfavorable to the Rule of Law. In July 2018, the Supreme Court released specific
recommendations on the preventive, corrective, and punitive aspects of lynching, instructing
state governments to implement them as soon as possible.The SHO was ordered to take urgent
steps to file a FIR, and if it was discovered that the police had failed to prevent such an activity,
the officers would face appropriate consequences. To ensure a rapid conviction of mob lynchers,
special fast track courts were established.

169
When one political party maintains silence and does not denounce such heinous lynchings, they
forget that it will soon be their turn, because you've encouraged the public to take law into their
own hands, they'll soon suffer the same fate.

Mob justice is a symptom of the state's inability to keep the pledge of successful justice
dispensation, as experience has repeatedly shown. Mob lynching is an affront to human dignity,
a significant violation of the international human rights pledge, and breach of Article 21 of the
Constitution's essential principles.

The Supreme Court laid forth many preventative, remedial, and corrective measures to deal with
lynching and mob abuse in its decision in Tahseen S. Poonawala V. UOI (WP(C) No.754/2016).
States were required to set up separate fast-track courts in each district to handle only mob
lynching cases.The establishment of a special task force to collect intelligence information has
been suggested by the court, on anyone who distributes hate speeches, inflammatory remarks,
and false news that could contribute to mob lynching. Victim compensation programs were also
to be developed for the treatment and reconstruction of victims, according to the directives. A
year later, in July 2019, the Supreme Court issued notifications to the Centre and several states,
instructing them to put the measures into effect and produce compliance reports. The nations'
ambiguous response was a great disappointment. Manipur, West Bengal, and Rajasthan are the
only three states that have approved a law prohibiting mob lynching.

Any time there is an instance of honour killings, hate crimes, witch hunts, or mob lynching, we
want specific legislation to deal with them. These crimes, however, are all murders, and the
present IPC and CrPC rules are sufficient to deal with them. We are adequately prepared to deal
with mob lynching, thanks to the guidelines developed in Poonawala's case. What we miss,
though, is the adequate implementation of current legislation and enforcement agency
transparency.
Our justice system has been tarnished by mob brutality. It derives from the irrational notion of
vigilantism which contributes to the disorder. With an iron fist, such excrescence must be
curtailed. In a human country, the law is the most powerful ruler. The dignity of justice cannot be
shattered just because a person or a party adopts the perspective that they have been enabled by
the norms established down in law to take their implementation into their own hands and finally

170
become a law unto themselves, punishing violators on their presumption and in the manner that
233
they deem proper Krishnamoorthy V. Sivakumar and others . For every democratic
civilization to survive, the rule of law must be followed.
One of the most critical facets of a democratic society is freedom of expression.It allows the
people to participate in the social, legal, and political happenings of their country. This freedom
is a part of a fundamental right that means the basic right, without which a person cannot live
and develop in society.
With the use of free speeches, people could come together to achieve political, social and legal
goals. Sound discussions not only enlighten the citizens but also give a solution to a burning
issue.
This freedom is so important that it is guaranteed not only by the constitutions of many countries
but also by various acts, protocols, international conventions and many more.
We can say that this Freedom which is the essence of a free society is at one side a mother of
many other rights like the Right to Information, freedom of expression and the right to spread or
publish one's views are valuable, but on the other hand, it also breeds a slew of negative
consequences, like defamation, a provocation to commit a crime and hate speech. Therefore this
Freedom of Speech and expression, though a very important one, was not made absolute by the
constitution-makers. Article 19(2) of the Indian Constitution has several limits on a variety of
reasons, including if it is against the state's security, sovereignty, and integrity, friendly relations
with other nations, public order, decency, or morality, or if it is causing contempt of court, libel,
or incitement to a crime. As a result, not only the law but also our beliefs and ethics dictate that
we should not speak anything that may cause problems for others as well as ourselves. But the
human behavior never accepted these limits. On daily basis, you can find a lot of evidence where
these limits have been crossed. Take the comments of Mr Azam Khan (MPfrom Rampur UP) on
BJP leader Jayaprada or the comments of Congress President Mr Rahul Gandhi on PM Mr
NarendraModi that “Chaukidarchorhai” or the comments of CM of WestBengal Ms Mamta
Benarjee on peoples slogan Jai Shri Ram.‟Apart from this the speeches of the Owaisi brothers
(AIMIM Leaders) against Hindus, Speeches of Raj Thackrey (MNS leader) against North
Indians are themselves offensive. Is this considered part of the right to free speech and
expression? Never, ever! It is not speech that falls under the scope of Article 19 of the Indian

233
(2015) 3 SCC 467)

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Constitution, but hate speech, which is communication that incites, encourages, or justifies
hatred, violence, or discrimination against an individual or a group of individuals for several
reasons. In cases of blasphemy, lynching may be witnessed in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Mob
against theaccused are always instigated by hate speech. Apart from this cases of mob lynching
in Pakistan, Bangladesh and even in Jammu & Kashmir and West Bengal against a particular
community is very common and every time you can notice hate speech.

LEGISLATIVE & JUDICIAL STEPS TO CURB HATE SPEECH & MOB LYNCHING
Mob lynching is not an ordinary crime. “Citizens cannot take the law into their own hands or
become a law unto themselves,” the Supreme Court of India added, adding "horrendous actions
of mobocracy" cannot become the new normal. As a result, a particular law to combat the
possibility of mob lynching is urgently required. The SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989
has shown to be an effective deterrent in cases of mob lynching against scheduled castes and
scheduled tribes, but for others, swift legislation is required. Following the Supreme Court's
decision to put an end to mob lynchings, the Union Government expressed its first concern and
took efforts to address mob lynching events on July 23, 2018. It established a high-level
committee, led by the Union Home Secretary, to investigate the matter and make
recommendations within four weeks. In addition, the government formed a Group of Ministers,
led by the Union Home Minister, to review the high-level committee's recommendations. The
Group of Ministers now includes the Ministers for External Affairs, Road Transport and
Highways, Shipping, Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Law and
Justice, and Social Justice and Empowerment. Apart from this, in the aftermath of the incidents,
social organizations, media houses and student communities are trying to join hands to create
awareness on the responsible use of networking websites.
When we talk about the laws, which can curb these violent activities, we have a lot but not a
specific law on this particular issue. The Indian Penal Code does not utilise the term "lynching"
(IPC). According to Section 223(a) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1973, individuals
or a mob accused of the same crime can be tried together. This provision hasn't helped provide
justice in lynching incidents in any way. Apart from this Article 19 & 21 of the Constitution of
India itself contain provisions regulating freedom of speech that causes violence. Sections 124A,
153A, 153B,295A, 298 & 505 of Indian Penal Code, Sections 8, 123 &125 of Representation of

172
The People Act, 1951, Section 7 of Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955, Section 3 of Religious
Institutions (Prevention of Misuse) Act, 1988, Sections 5 and 6 ofCable Television Network
Regulation Act, 1995, Sections 4, 5B & 7, Sections 95, 107, 144 &155 of Code of Criminal
Procedure, 1973 have provisions to curb the hate speeches that may cause violence either in the
forms of riots or mob lynching.
Multiple laws on one issue, each of which is vague, have rendered the situation uncontrolled,
necessitating the adoption of a single law on the subject. The Indian Supreme Court has also
labelled lynching as "horrific acts of mobocracy," ordering the Centre and state governments to
take preventative, corrective, and punitive measures to stop it with iron hands. In the meanwhile,
the police have been instructed to file a FIR under Section 153A of the Indian Penal Code and
other applicable legislation against anybody who engages in such actions. The Supreme Court
has urged that day-to-day trials in fast track courts be used to speed up the process and that
criminals in mob lynching instances be punished to the full extent of the law. On both the
Supreme Court's and the Bombay High Court's orders, the Maharashtra government had assured
that formulating a policy on cases mob lynching and is under process but Manipur has become
the first state to make law on this burning issue. The Supreme Court has also directed the central
government and state governments to adopt precautionary, curative, and remedial actions to keep
it in check.
The progressing cases are extending anyway close by increase they are creating also. Crowd
lynching is another sort of mobocracy. We've seen how lynching has risen, and how it's been
manufactured, in the context of American civil rights progress. Despite this, due to the structure
of the American government, not all states have anti-lynching law. India is a diverse country
with many different situations and traits, and to maintain order amid diverse common and
stringent social events, the law is based on the central principles of the Indian Constitution.
However, consider how unlikely it is that there is shared law and strict individuality among
people. The rule governs how a quarrel begins, with the ultimate purpose of lowering the
vibrations of the conflict. Since independence, there has been a conflict between Hindus and
Muslims, and the most of mob lynchings have resulted from 'dairy monsters butcher' instances or
merely a question provoking mob lynching. Concernsthat are pointless a short mass lynching in
which blameless persons are apprehended and denied their right to self-defense.

173
As a result, under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, the ultimate goal of the Constitution is to
protect people's lives. It maintains the Preamble's basic principles, which are articulated in the
Constitution. Legislation should be created to admonish the mobs that lynch in the end; no one
stands to gain by putting the law in their hands. Military solicitation or trademark infringement
can take a person's life solely based on the law. A weight of severe hazard should be constrained
which will have a snag effect as for society who remember for crowd lynching. My research goal
is to create an inside and out coordinated legislation, similar to MASUKA, that will save and
protect a man's right to life. The material presented here has confirmed my support for passing
and executing anti-lynching law, such as instances connected to lynching in India and provisions
now in the IPC. All of this confirms my intention to develop an alternative strategy for anti-
lynching legislation under the IPC, which will allow for the enforcement of anti-lynching laws in
India. It is also assumed that "MASUKA" is a draught that has been displayed by mass meetings
to combat the crime of lynching; nevertheless, the text does not address the crime of massacre. It
is critical to include a section in this draught for the crime of slaughter. The proposal is excellent
and handles virtually all of the difficulties related to preventing crowd lynchings. However, we
have identified the need for certain adjustments, such as in the fundamental study of the
document, and we recommend that those adjustments be included in the document before it is
converted into an Act. Horde Lynching ought to be halted as it advances viciousness, disdain,
war and so forth. Lynching isn't at all sound for a nation and its general public. Individuals ought
to comprehend that each life is significant. Slaughtering somebody on only doubt isn't defended.
Individuals should also avoid taking law into their own hands. The courts and the police are in
charge of enforcing discipline. There isn't any other option than to resort to violence. Individuals
can influence the whole audience just by speaking. If you need to change something in the
public, "raise your voice, not your hand." More than that, the government should pass
MASUKA, a new statute that will bring legitimate and political figures together to try to find a
solution. Furthermore, more lives will be saved in the next years as a result of this. QUIT MOB
LYNCHING!

The good Supreme Court has missed the point about lynching. The issue isn't that we need more
laws to be passed in the middle. Nor does the declaration by the home priests motivate a lot of
certainties. This isn't an issue that has a top-down arrangement. Lynching isn't so a lot of an
across the nation issue as a Hindi belt one. It's is to do with the inclination among numerous

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Hindus, a few however not all with Parivar ties that a BJP government is an open greeting to
thrash or slaughter Muslims. The issue might be bovine as in Alwar or similarly as bury strict
marriage as in Ghaziabad. There might be gossipy tidbits that a family, perpetually Muslim is
eating or putting away hamburgers in their home. Any reason will do. Online networking help
enroll a moment horde, who get their rushes from persevering Muslim men. The event of these
cases is neighborhood and restricted to the BIMARU states. Peace is a state subject. We have
impeccably satisfactory laws in IPC to manage the issue. It's isn't the absence of laws however an
absence of will to uphold the law which is the issue. The lazy disposition of the Alwar police
toward the casualty of lynching shows that to the extent they were concerned, getting dairy
animals back under insurance was a higher priority than taking care of the half-dead Muslim man
under their consideration.

State-level policing has been an embarrassment for quite a long time, particularly in the Hindi
belt. Under the Samajwadi Party in UP or the RJD in Bihar lawbreakers were profoundly put in
governmental issues. Grabbing and coercion were overflowing. Each new gathering in control
UP begins by moving police around the states so they can get their top choices of insignificant
posts. Individuals from the nearby governing gathering realize they have insusceptibility from
indictment. MLAs and MPs carry on like neighborhood rajas. In UP as of late an MLA was
attentive in an assault case which additionally prompted the demise of the assault injured
individual's Father as he was severely tormented. At the point when equity will do is impossible
to say. We have broken legal executive at the nearby levels to add to the politically controlled
police. Some of the time the haughtiness of the culprits of such activity coordinates its
terribleness. In Kathua there has been a statement of regret however one of those engaged with
the dissent backing the denounced has propelled a Jammu territorial development. That would
bring the police absolutely under political control. None of this issue is amiable to an answer by
the middle giving a warning or passing a law. The truth of the matter is that in numerous pieces
of India, the state has separated. The test is to reestablish a decent administration, making the
police free of nearby political position, remaking the legal executive at the neighborhood level,
to reexamine the neighborhood state. Indeed, horde lynching is all around us...It has consistently
been. Yet, we have all been careless regarding its reality until somebody called attention to the
rank or religion of the person in question. Have you never observed the individual associated

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with a mishap getting a strong whipping from the horde? Have you never observed a frivolous
cheat getting beaten beat up in the center of a market? The Incidents of horde lynching fuelled by
counterfeit news are anymore not the same as the one referenced previously. In every one of the
cases, the crowd works on a similar mindset. Much the same as there can't be great psychological
oppression and awful fear-mongering, the same path there can't be great horde lynching and
terrible crowd lynching. Things being what they are, what is at the shortcoming here? The
disorder happens where the overall population doesn't have faith in the police and in India this is
only the situation. The commission mentioned multiple incidences of lynching in the state in
its 128th report, recommending prompt passage of law based on Supreme Court
recommendations from 2018. 234

The Supreme Court sent a notice to the Centre and many state governments in July, stating
that they had failed to comply with the ruling. While the application of rules is one of the
causes for the persistence of mob lynchings, what is frequently overlooked is how the police
and society regard these instances in general. 235

Despite the Supreme Court's intervention, a study on police in India issued in 2020 by Delhi-
based NGO Common Cause and CSDS offered a key clue as to why mob lynchings continue
to occur. As per the statistics, 35% of police officers questioned feel it is natural for a mob to
punish the culprit in cases of cow slaughter, 35% feel it is usual for a mob to punish the
perpetrator in cases of human trafficking, and 43% feel it is usual for a mob to punish a rape
suspect. 236

When it comes to incidents of mob lynching, police officers are not always serious. Pehlu
Khan's lynching in Rajasthan is a great case in point. The state police filed a charge sheet for
cow smuggling against the dead, who was killed by a mob of self-styled gaurakshaks in Alwar
in 2017 for transporting animals. 237

Other key factor explaining why mob lynchings continue to occur is that the concept of so-
called "instant" justice is quite popular in our society. As psychologist and Supreme Court

234
http://upslc.upsdc.gov.in/mediagallery/7threport.ppc
235
https://the wise.in/law/moblynching-supreme-court-notice-implement-direction
236
https://thewire.in/government/police-in-Indiaendorse-encounter-killing-mob-punishment-study
237
https://thewire.in/rights/alwer/mob-lynching-pehlu-khan-chargesheet-congress-rule

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counselAnujaTrehanKapur correctly points out, this means that society feels obligated to act
in problems without even knowing the issue.

As per to Kapur, “Lynching happens when a mob gets together and they feel that they have a
responsibility towards society and that the police or any administrative body can’t do justice
to that responsibility.”

There is a common assumption that 'criminals' go unpunished, and that individuals accused of
heinous crimes like as rape, child trafficking, and cow slaughter are likely to get away with it.

Furthermore, a review of many cases demonstrates that whether the alleged crime is
committed by a Muslim, Dalit, Christian, or tribal person, such so-called forms of justice are
more frequently accepted. Discrimination against Muslims and Dalits, according to an EPW
report, "continues to plague the very institutions supposed to produce a better society." 238”

As per data, Muslims, who account for 14.8% of India's population, have been victims of 60%
of hate crimes, Christians 2% of the population in 14% of cases, and Hindus 79.8% of the
population in 14% of cases.Furthermore, according to the Common Cause and CSDS report,
50% of officers believe Muslims are predisposed to crime. In reality, individuals must realise
that their act of delivering "immediate justice" is a major criminal in and of itself. And a
crime cannot be retaliated against by another crime.

The announcement by the Centre in May 2017 regarding cow slaughter was well timed to
coincide with the Ramzan celebration.The sale of cattle in animal markets for the purpose of
slaughter is normally a state matter, but the Centre issued this notice under the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals (Regulation of Livestock Markets) Rules 2017, which prohibits the sale of
cattle in animal markets for the purpose of slaughter. What the state appears to be unwilling to
acknowledge is that notices like these legitimise the increasingly common practise of lynching.
Despite the huge number of occurrences of cow vigilantism at the time, the notification was
issued, allowing these "gau-rakshaks" to behave even more freely.

238
https://www.livemint.com/politics/69nrdm80MLVspvNHgdBpsk/the discrimination-dalits and muslim-face.in-India-html.

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The state had been alerted to the fact that vigilantism had become a common occurrence against
Muslims, and it had a responsibility to handle the matter of yet another fatality on public
property caused by non-state actors. In the case of Junaid Khan's murder, it's hard to believe that
a crowd could encircle and abuse young boys on a train, i.e. public property, and walk away
unpunished and unaccountable. Railway officials must be held liable for allowing this savagery
to occur within the train's confines. The state has often failed to hold self-proclaimed invigilators
responsible. They have also taken away the right to life of another little youngster, Junaid. As a
result, the State must compensate the victim's family for the breach of his basic right on
government property.

Manipur, Rajasthan, and West Bengal have all enacted legislation that includes the majority of
the Supreme Court's directives. Lynching is defined as an act of mob violence motivated by
religion, caste, sex, birthplace, language, dietary practises, sexual orientation, political affiliation,
or ethnicity, according to these statutes. They also define what constitutes a "hostile
environment" and "offensive material" that must be restricted in dissemination. The statutes of
the three states, however, are not similar.

In Manipur, for example, a law empowers the state government to impose a collective fine on
people of a certain region if the government suspects they are involved in lynching or a similar
crime. This provision is not included in the Rajasthan anti-lynching bill 239. In addition, the two
states have different approaches to holding cops accountable for failing to prevent lynchings. The
legislation in Manipur punishes police officers with a year in prison, but the legislation in
Rajasthan does not contain a corresponding provision. However, the punishment for lynching is
the same in both states. They provide that if a lynching victim dies, the criminals shall be
sentenced to life in jail. The West Bengal legislation, on the other hand, stipulates that the
highest penalty for this crime is death. 240

Laws that are too strict aren't the only way to solve an issue. They are included in the solution set
and must be augmented with additional measures. The most crucial condition for preserving
peace and order in the states is a sufficient, competent, and responsive police force. Data
gathered by the bureau of police force and training revealed weaknesses in our states' police

239
https://rajassembly.nic.in/legislation/Bill/Bill22-2019pdf.
201.https://timesofIndia.com/city/kolkata/new-law-against-lynch-makes-death-punishable-with-death/articlesshow/70917470.cms

178
forces. 241Our police forces, for example, are highly overworked. In 2017, state police forces had
a vacancy rate of 21.8 percent. They also have mobility and weapons limitations. 242

SUGGESTIONS

There are several suggestions for dealing with lynchings by mobs.

• A new law- A new law will set accountability of personnel who are engaging in law and
order maintenance.It will create fear and deterrence among the masses, not to take law in
their hands.If a person's life or property is endangered as a result of a mob lynching, the
perpetrators shall face severe punishment and reparation.

• Get in touch with of police with local people- There should be personal regular meeting
of police with the local people, children and youth in college and increase people's faith
in police and administration.

• Spread Awareness Campaign –Dueto the growth of mob lynching incidents there
should be organized social awareness and literacy campaign programs at every level in
colleges, schools and institutions with the help of administration and NGO'S.

• To declare National offence- Instead of introducing so many sub sections in existing


law, declare this offence as a national offence in existing law and focus on the execution
and implementation of law.

• To stop the fake news and hate news- WhatsApp, twitter, Instagram and other social
sites are responsible for spreading the fake news and hate news.So to prevent the fake
news and hate speeches social sites should be under the supervision regularly and
investigation of such cases should be done without any political pressure and influence.
There should be strict provisions of the punishment for those peoples who spreading fake
news and hate news.

• Police and judicial reforms - Police and judiciary play important role to stop the crime.
There are so many cases pending in court in our country. Justice should be unbiased and

241
https://bprd.wc.in/writeload data/user files/file/databook2017.pdf
242
https://www.prsindia.org/policy/discussion-paper/police-reforms-India

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according to the due process of law. Similarly in our country police are overburdened and
due to this problem they cannot properly deal with the crime so police reforms and
judiciary reforms are essential to improve criminal justice system.

• To established special and fast track courts- There are so many courts in our country
via. Criminal court, family courts, civil court and labor courts etc. Mob lynching is a
heinous crime so that should be tried in special court and fast track court with special
procedure.

• Speedy trial- "Justice delayed is justice denied" that is a legal rule. It indicates that if an
injured person has a treatment, but it is not provided promptly, it is practically the same
as having no treatment at all. Since a result, in order to overcome this problem, the
investigation should be completed quickly, as many witnesses and victims withdraw or
amend their statements.

• Simple Process- If any case occurred so process to tackle that problem is very
complicated. Sometimes cases are not registered due to the complicated procedure. So
process should be simple to curb that situation.

• To fix the accountability of Nodal officer and police officer- The primary role and
obligation of the nodal officer is to accept complaints and take action to avoid mob
lynchings. He will form a special task team in each district or region to investigate the
infraction, but if he is shown to be irresponsible in carrying out his duties, he will be held
liable for the events. Police who watch at mute will be punished and tried in same manner
as the accused.

• Balanced regional growth- The majority of mob lynchings occur based on caste,
religion, creed, and place of birth, among other factors, and only a small percentage of
the population is affected. Government should take steps for the growth of minority
section and balanced regional growth.

• Safety of witnesses and victims- Safety of witnesses is the main issue because due to
threat maximum witnesses hostile. The responsibility should be develop on the police to

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protect the witnesses and victims not at the time of incidents but after the incidents also.
For their safety lynching must be made a non bailable offence.

• Compensation scheme for victims- Victims and their family is the main sufferer in mob
lynching cases. So there should be a provision of compensation for the victims and their
relatives and ought to be provide free legal aid to them for secure justice.

• Strict punishment- Mob lynching is a extra killing by the mob without following the due
process. So punishment should be strict and must be made a non-bailable and cognizable
offence.

Apart from these suggestions some more responses and suggestion provided from
the peoples.

a. Mob lynching should be treated as a social evil & support from community is required to
address the incidents.

b. The accountability should be fixed of superintendent and nodal officer of the occurrence
place.

c. Changing law is not the solution, rather more emphasis should be laid on education.

d. Indian government as well as state governments both takes the strict action against the
offender.

e. Hang such cruel till death

f. Religion based education and there institutions must be monitored if they spread hatred
against the other religion and their follower, it must be stop strongly.

g. There is need of substantial code for mob lynching but we can't ignore the political
motives behind these cases and govt. should take necessary measures for spreading
awareness for these crime people must aware about the law means what to do and what
not to do.

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h. The administration i.e. police system should be given full authority and potential to use its
power on the spot, but within the limits. Rather than questioning and criticizing it's every
act. Our police system is far better than our perceptions, as we can see in lockdown time.

i, The perception of 'crowd has no face' must be vanished from the mind of people. That's
the only cure.

j. Mob lynching should be declared act of terrorism.

k. Follow one nation one law. State is not fair on this crime.

l. When a Muslim is killed in mob lynching, then Hindu's are questioned, but when a Hindu
killed. Then such a big issue is not created in mob lynching. Find the main reason why
mob lynching occurs and make a law on it.

m. Strong implementation of existing law and formulation of stringent laws are required to
stop these incidents.

n. Special team and officers should be made to deal with the mob lynching.

o. Banned all extremist religious organization like RSS,Bajrangdal and PFI

p. Mob lynching is one of the heinous crimes. No particular reason can only be held
responsible for this crime. Religion and caste are dominant causes but other reasons too
responsible for it, like personal grudges. Making of new law is may be not a great idea
rather amendments in IPC and CrPC will serve the purpose and amendments in these two
laws give the sense of higher culpability to the offenders. Severe punishments should be
added with less stringent procedure. Apart from this, these type of offences are against
humanity and question the very sense of being human so somewhere stress should be
given on imparting moral education to people of every age, not only to school goers.
q. No doubt, the incident of mob lynching is abnormal behavior of Indian society that is
totally sociological and political phenomenon. The influence or domination of the group's
mind or beliefs is demonstrated in mob behaviour like this. The victim of mob lynching is
always either from deprived community means Dalits or from religious minority. How

182
many victim of mob lynching from upper caste Hindu that is so called sawarna? Very
few or nothing.

I think communal politics and Brahmanism is root cause of mob lynching in India.
Nowadays in India we see many incident of mob lynching happening on the name of
Gauraksha, child thief, desdrohi, naxal and jamat, jihadi. BJP led Government of India
escalate incident of mob lynching and promote such behavior. There are many minister of
Government of India including Prime minister of India continue delivered hate speech
against a particular community and also award to accused of mob lynchers.So in my view
only law never face and eliminate such evils. Social and political reform with ethical and
moral valuesspreads awareness among people and social harmony and brotherhood will
help to beat mob lynching.

r. Rule of law should be strictly applied without biasness.

s. More than law and order, we need a society that sees by default and by nature that to
harm others is to harm oneself. To love is the only way to be.

t. Hinduism is known for inner engineering experiments as our ashrams were labs on
various perspective altering exercises. We need to bring that culture back or more
practice and less noise.

u. Family, school and University should teach about discipline, respect, equality and moral
values as most of time people involved in mob Lynching are less not lacking basic
education but moral values. Respecting every religion and caste is important and when
people in politics, film industry, media and role models themselves involve in creating
hatred for different communities then common people follow them. It is the responsibility
of idols of common people to show unity and respect for all. Laws are same for criminals
regardless of caste and religion but how much equality is done is major question and that
is what leads to such hatred in different communities and incidents of mob
Lynching.
v. When it comes to mob lynching, there must be zero tolerance.

183
w. Individual WhatsApp chats between people should be kept private and should not be
spread. However, if a message creator wants to permit forwarding, the conversation
should be set to public and given a unique ID that can be traced back to the original
originator. When law enforcement authorities make a court-ordered request, WhatsApp
will be able to shut down such a message throughout its network once it has been
reported and the originator identified.
x. The state and central governments must issue radio, television, and internet warnings that
lynching and mob violence will result in significant penalties.

y. Empowering neighborhoodslaw implementation authorities to make a pre-emptive move.

z. There should be proceeded with responsiveness on part of the nearby organization in


managing tension and doubt in neighborhood networks.

za.Create a system to protect examinations of mutual viciousness from political obstruction.

zb.Strengthen the common society Organization. This sustains solidarity.

zc.Re-situate values and conventional standards towards upgrading sympathy, compassion,


and society among individuals.

zd.Find profitable commitment roads for huge jobless or under-utilized young people.

ze.A focused on area explicit methodology is need of great importance as purposes behind
such acts fluctuate generally crosswise over space.

In my opinion there is no single solution to this problem of mob lynching. Some structural
reforms are mandatory, along with region wise action plan need to be prepared with the
243
ground realities, with help of local communities. The dastardly act of lynching has no easy
solution. The responsibility of state legislatures should not to be limited to law providing
strict punishments 244 . State legislatures need to be continuously involved with the issue.

243
https//www.timesofindndia.com
244
www.newsclick.in/new-laws-crime-andpunishment-India

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Their involvement should extend to an in-depth discussion with respect to budgetary
requirements of police and judiciary and a continuous holding to account of the state
administration for every unlawful act of lynching in the state.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

RESEARCH PAPERS

• Adil Khan, "Lynching: Taking the law in hands is now to be handled by law" vol.1,
issue-3 (2018) pg. no 1-6
• Anandita Yadav, "Countering hate speech in India; Looking for answer beyond the law",
vol. 2, (2018)
• Ankita Ramgopal, "Mob Lynching in India: When does the buck stop" (2020)
• Andrew J. Ritchey and R. Barry Ruback, "Predicting Lynching Atrocity: The Situational
Norms of Lynching in Georgia" vol.44, (2018), pg. no.619-637
• Aman Gupta, "Mob Lynching, the Conundrum of Instant Justice" (2018)
• Arnold Sangma, "Mob Lynching: An Uprising offense needed to be strenuous under the
Indian legal system", vol.2, issue 4. (2017) pp.30-34
• Ashraya Singh, "Mob Lynching in India: Present and Future Prospects", (2018-2019)
• Barhard, Amii Larkin, "The Application of critical race feminism to the Anti Lynching
movement: black women's fight against race and gender ideology, 1892-1920", vol.3
(1993)
• Barbara Holden- Smith, "Lynching Federalism and the intersection of Race and Gender
in the Progressive Era" vol.8 (1995)
• Chitrang Singh Rathore, "Mob Lynching: Lynching Scenario in India and
Implementation of Anti-Lynching Law in the Indian legal system" vol.1, issue 9,(2018),
pg. no 347-351
• Dr. M. Mohsin Alam Bhat, "The case for collecting hate crimes data in India" vol.4, issue
9 (2018), pg. no 1-6
• Dr. Radhey Shyam Jha, Dr. Vipin Jain & Dr. Chanchal Chawla, "Hate Speech & Mob
Lynching: A study of its relations, impact & regulating law" vol.22, issue 3,(2019), pg.
no. 1401-1409
• Dr.P. Chand Basha, "Mob Lynching a social evil" vol.3, (2018) pg. no. 363-365

186
• Dr. Satyanarayan Panday, Pawan Kumar Pandey, " Emerging trends of Mob Lynching:
Does social media have a role in managing law & issues" vol. 22, (2019) pg. no. 8404-
8415
• E.M. Beck, "Judge Lynch Denied Combating Mob violence in America South, 1877-
1950" vol. 21,no.2 (2015) pg. no. 117-139
• Hougton Miffin, "Lynching: History study centre", (1991)
• Hmanshu Chippa, Lokendra Singh Panwar, "Mob Lynching in India" vol.1, issue 19
(2019)
• Jahidul Islam, "Mob Lynching and the failure of legal system" vol.2 no.3 (2019)
• Jeba Boktair Mondal, "Mob Lynching: Politics, Law and Solutions" (2019)
• Kinga Makovi, Ryan Hagen, Peter Bearman, "The course of law: State intervention in
Southern Lynch Mob Violence 1882-1930" vol.3 (2016), pg. no. 860-888
• Karlos Hill, "Resisting Lynching: Black grass roots responses to Lynching in the
Mississippi and Arkansas Deltas, 1882-1938" (2009)
• Manfred Berg and SimmonWendt, "Introduction: Lynching from an international
perspective" (2011), pg. no. 1-18
• Michael Quinion, "Lynch: World Wide Words 2008"
• Mitakshara Medhi, " Mob Violence: A Psychosocial Perspective" (2018)
• Ms. Megha Ojha, " Mon Violence and Lynching in India: Threat to Democracy" vol. 8,
issue 8 (2017), pg. no. 70-74
• Naeesha Halai, "Mob frenzy and Lynching ....# not in my name" vol. 3, issue 2 (2017),
pg. no. 40-45
• Nitin Kumar, Sneha Kumari, Chandan KUmar, "Mobocacy in Democracy" vol.7, (2019)
• Nityanand Pandey, "Mob Lynching: A new crime emerging in Indian society" vol. 5,
issue 4, (2108), pg. no. 808-813
• Rashmi Dubey, Ujjwal Sakhalkar, "A critical analysis of rising intolerance and growing
polarisation: Lynching" vol. 8, issue 5c (2019), pg. no. 1423-1425
• Ronojoy Sen, "The dark side of social media: Mob Lynching in India" (2018), no. 592
• Ryan Hagen, Kina Makovi and Peter Bearman, "The influence of political dynamics on
Southern lynch mob formation ", (2013), pg. no.757-787

187
• Seema Vikey, Nidhi Dubey, "Mob Lynching in India: WhatsAPP as social media to 'anti'
social media" vol.4, issue 5 (2018), pg. no. 35-40
• Shakuntala Banaiji and Ram Bhatt, "WhatsApp vigilantism: An exploration of citizen
reception and circulation of whatsApp misinformation linked to mob violence in India",
(2018)
• Shivani Dubey and Neha Malik, "Mob lynching: A growing menanace", vol.13, (2019)
• Susan Jean, "Warranted Lynching: Narratives of mob violence in white Southern
newspapers, 1880-1940", vol.6, issue-3, (2015), pg. no. 351-372
• Swati Arfun and Shikha Bai, " Crime by common: Emerging trend in social media"
vol.8,(2018), pg. no. 35-41
• Tanika Sarkar, "Who Rules India? A few notes on the Hindu Rights" (2018)
• Tanvi Yadav & Nagendra Amed, "Mob Lynching in India: Sine Qua Non of Legal
Intervention" vol. 4 (2019), pg. no. 298-311
• Terence Finnegan, "Politics of Defiance": Under covering the causes and consequences
of lynching and communal violence, (2014), pg. no. 850-851
• Yuva Ekta Jagruk Manch, Nuh, Haryana, Afkar India Foundation, Shamli, UP, A report
"Lynching Without End", (2017)
• Waldrep, Christopher , Lynching and mob Violence. In Finkleman, Paul. Encyclopaedia
of African American History 1619-1895. 2. New York City: Oxford University
Press2006, 308.
• William K. Mills, "The NACCP Crusade against Lynching, 1909-1950" 7(3),pp. 9,309

JOURNALS

• America Nineteenth Century History


• Asian Law & Public Policy Review
• Globalising Lynching History
• International Journal of Academic Research and Development
• International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Research
• International Journal of Research and Analytical Review
• International Journal of Research in Engineering Science and Management
• International Journal of Research in Engineering and Advance Technology

188
• International Research Journal of Commerce Arts and Science
• Institute of South Asian Studies
• Journal of Content, Community & Communication
• Journal of Legal Methodology, Policy and Governance
• Law & Policy Brief
• Law Review Volume-2
• Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
• Research Review International Journal of Multidisciplinary
• Sociological Science
• Social force 92 (2) Journal
• Supreme Amicus Journal
• Society for Critical Legal studies
• Southern Culture University of North Carolina Science
• The Journal of America History
• The London School of Economics and Political Science
• Think India Quarterly Journal
• UCLA Women's Law Journal

ONLINE ARTICLES AND WEBSITES

• https://sabrangindia.in/article/lynching-india-shame. (last visited on 16 June 2020)


• https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/preventing-mob-lynching/article30577621.ece,
(last visited on 07/06/2020)
• http://www.legalserviceindia.com/legal/article-844-mob-lynching-a-rising-threat.html.
(last visited in 16 June 2020)
• https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/law-on-mob-lynching.
(last visited on 07 June 2020)
• https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/legally-speaking/mob-lynching-adesecration
of-the-rule-of-law/ (last visited on 16 June 2020)
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/lynching, history, define and facts. (last visited on 06
June 2020)

189
• https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334663373_MOB_LYNCHING_A_CASE_ST
UDY_JHARKHAND. (last visited on 22 April 2020)
• http://www.misaal.ngo/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/FINAL-report-Lynching-without-
End.pdf ( visited this page 4 times. Last visit: 8/6/20)
• https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/oped/preventingmoblynching/article30577621.ecc.
(last visited on 07 June 2020)
• https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2017/07/india-epidemic-mob-lynching-
170706113733914.html. (visited this page 2 times. Last visit: 13/9/18)
• https://www.civilserviceindia.com/current-affairs/articles/rising-mob-violence-in-
india.html. (last visited on 13 April 2019)
• https://theleaflet.in/the-debilitating-saga-of-mob-lynching/ (last visited 06 June 2020)
• https://www.financialexpress.com/india-news/lynching-in-india-why-and-what-can-we-
do-a bout-it/1252987/ (last visited on 21 Oct. 2018)
• https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/states-views-sought-on-
need-for-mob-lynching-law/articleshow/72374556.cms. (08 Feb. 2020)
• https://academic.oup.com/jah/article-pdf/101/3/850/2384256/jau563.pdf title uncovering
the causes of communal violence. (last visited on 14 June 2020)
• https://www.dhyeyaias.com/current-affairs/perfect-7-magazine/palghar-mob-
lynching.(last visiting on 16 June 2020)

• https://indianexpress.com/article/india/murderous-mob-lynching-incidents-in-india-
dhule-whatsapp-rumour-5247741/ ( last visited on 6 April 2019)
• https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/mob-lynching-
government-sets-up-4-member-committee-to-suggest-legal-
framework/articleshow/65106290.cms. ( last visited on 08 June 2018)
 https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/mob.Late 17th century: abbreviation of
archaic mobile, short for Latin mobile vulgus ‘excitable crowd’..(last visited on 6 June
2018)
 http://www.legal-tools.org/doc/f0b548/pdf/. (last visited on 8 June 2018)

190
 https://www.livelaw.in/breaking-horrendous-acts-of-mobocracy-cant-be-allowed-
become-new-norm-sc-condemns-lynching-incidents-issues-directions/ (last visited on 10
June 2018)
 https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/make-law-to-prevent-
horrendous-acts-of-mobocracy-sc-to-govt-on-lynchings-118071700259_1.html (last
visited on Aug, 2018)
 https://www.thequint.com/videos/q-rant/mob-lynching-law-supreme-court-needed
 National Human Rights Commission v. State of Gujrat and others (2009) 6 SCC
342.
 Krishna Sradha v. State of Andhra Pradesh (2017) 4 SCC 516.
 Cardamom Marketing Corporation v. State of Kerala (2017) 5 SCC 255.
 https://blog.ipleaders.in/draft-law-manav-suraksha-kanoon-masuka-national-campaign-
mob-lynching/Expertily, Why is India desperate for lynching laws , (June 27,2018),
available at https://www.expertily.com/blog/lynching-laws-in-india (Last visited on June
20, 2018).
 The Hindu, It’s time to enact an anti-lynching law ,(August 4, 2017), available
at http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/its-time-to-enact-an-anti-lynching-
law/article19421424.ece (Last visited on June 20, 2018).
 The newslaundry.com, Mob lynchings in India: A look at data and the story
behind the numbers ,(July 4 , 2017), available
at https://www.newslaundry.com/2017/07/04/mob-lynchings-in-india-a-look-at-data-and-
the-story-behind-the-numbers (Last visited on June 20, 2018).
 LiveLaw.in, Government, Governance, Lynching And Rule Of Law ( July 5
,2017), available at http://www.livelaw.in/government-governance-lynching-rule-
law/ (Last visited on June 20,2018).
 https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/42867-why-need-special-law-curb-mob-
lynching/
 https://rostrumlegal.com/journal/nob-lynching-and-massacre-threats-to-the-nation-can-
masuka-address-the-issue/17. (last visited on 15 April 2018)
 https://blog.ipleaders.in/punishment-participating-mob-lynching/( last visited on 10 June
2019)

191
 https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2017/07/india-epidemic-mob-lynching-
170706113733914.html
 https://www.newslaundry.com/2017/07/04/mob-lynchings-in-india-a-look-at-data-and-
the-story-behind-the-numbers. (last visited on 16 June 2020)
 https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/mob-lynching-draft-new-legislation-to-stop-
people-taking-law-into-own-hands-says-sc-to-parliament/articleshow/65019261.cms
 http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=180891. (last visited on 06 June 2020)
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyer_Anti-Lynching_Bill. (last visited on 12 June 2020)
 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-44897714
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Dadri_mob_lynching. (last visited on 12 June 2020)
 http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/mob%20lynching%20Supreme%20Court
%20Judgement.pdf
 https://www.thequint.com/quintlab/lynching-in-india/and lynchistan/lynching across the
India. (last visited on 10.04.2019)
 https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/16-lynchings-in-2-months-is-social-media-the-
new-serial-killer-1275182-2018-07-02
• https://www.civilserviceindia.com/current-affairs/articles/rising-mob-violence-in-
india.html
• https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Mob+lynching. (last visited on 08 April
2020)

LEGISLATION

Indian Legislation

• The Indian Evidence Act 1872


• The Indian Penal Code 1860
• The Code of Criminal Procedure 1973
• The Constitution of India
• The Human Rights Act 1945
• Protection from Lynching Bill 2017
• Manipur Protection from Mob Lynching, 2018

192
• Rajasthan Protection from Lynching Bill, 2019
• Utter Pradesh Combating Mob Lynching Bill, 2019
• West Bengal Prevention of Lynching Bill, 2019
• Gauvansh Sanrakshan Gausamvardhan (cow protection and development) Bill, 2015
• The Andhra Pradesh of Cow Slaughter and Animal Preservation Act, 1977
• The Punjab Prohibition of Cow Slaughter Act, 1981
• The Utter Pradesh Preservation of Cow Slaughter (Amendment) Act, 2002
• MUSUKA ( Manav Suraksha Kanoon)

Other Countries Legislation/ Statutes

• Anti Lynching Bill, 2018


• Civil Rights Act, 1964
• Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill, 1918
• Human Rights Act , 1998
• Jim Emmett Till Anti Lynching Bill, 2020
• Nigerian Hostile to Lynching Bill, 2009
• NACCP (The National Association for the Advancement of colored people)
• Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill, 2018
• Virginia Anti Lynching Law, 1928

BOOKS

• Aggarwal H.O,(2016) International Law and Human Rights, 21th Ed., Central Law
Publication, Allahabad
• Aggarwal Nomita (2014) Jurisprudence & Legal Thoery, 10th Ed., Central Law
Publication Allahabad
• Babu Durga Das (2018) Introduction to the Constitution of India, 23rd Ed. Lexis Nexis
New Delhi
• Basu. D.D (2011) Introduction to the Constitution of India, Lexis Nexis New Delhi
• Baxi Upendra , Socio- Legal Research in India- A Program shift (Indian council of Social
Science Research (ICSSR), New Delhi, 1975)

193
• Bhatia, Gautam (2016) Offend, Shock or Disturb Free Speech Under Indian Constitution,
Oxford University Press, New Delhi
• Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPc.), 1973, (2019) Universal Law Publishing Co,
Gurgoan
• Dalal A.S (2015) Leagl Research Methods in India, 1st Ed. Bright Law House New Delhi
• David Scott, (2001) Legal Research , Lawman (India) Private Limited, 2nd Ed. New
Delhi, pp. 022-040 Harvard Blue Book (2004)
• Dixon Martin,( 2009), Text book on International Law, 7th Ed. Oxford University Press,
United Kingdom
• Gaur D.K, (2017), text book on the Indian Evidence Act , 2017 Ed., Universal Law
Publishing
• Hasan Joya (2011) Politics of Inclusion: Castes, Minorities and Affirmation Action,
Oxford University Press, New Delhi
• Joshi K.C (2016) Constitutional Law of India, 11th Ed. (Rep.), Central Law Publication,
Allahabad
• Kant Neelam (2015) An Introduction to Political Science, 1st Ed. Central Law
Publication Allahabad
• Kashyap, Subhash (2009) Concise Encyclopaedia of Indian Constitution Vision Book.
New Delhi
• Kesari U.P.D (2016) Administrative Law , 21st Ed. Central Law Publication Allahabad
• Misra S.N (2015) The Code of Criminal Procedure,19th Ed. (Rep.), Central Law
Publication, Allahabad
• Mishra S.N (2016) Indian Penal Code, 20th Ed., Central Law Publication, Allahabad
• Protection of Civil Rights Act 1955 (2019) Universal Law Publishing Co., Gurgoan
• Puniyani, Ram (2005) Religion, Power and Violence, Expression of Politics in
Contemporary Times, Sage Publications Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi
• Rattan Lal & Dheeraj Lal (2017) The Indian Penal Code, 35th ed. Lexis Nexis New Delhi
• Religious Institution (Prevention of Misuse) Act 1988, Universal Law Publishing Co.
• Representation of the People Act 1951 (2016), Universal Publishing Com. Gurgoan

194
• Shiva Kumar, S. (2015), Press Law and Publications, Universal Law Publishing Co.
Gurgoan
• Srivastava R.D (2013) Text Book of Interpretation of Statutes & Legislation, 6th Ed.,
Central Law Publication, Allahabad
• The Indian Penal Code (IPC) 1860, (2018), Universal Law Publishing Co. Gurgoan.
• Tripathi G.P (2015) Legal Research & Research Methodology, 1st Ed., Central Law
Publication Allahabad
• Verma S.K (2012) Public International Law, 2nd Ed. Satyam Law Publisher

DICTIONARY

• A.S Hornby, Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary


• Bryan A. Garner, A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage (Oxford, New York, 2nd, 1995)
• Henry Campbell Black, Black's Law Dictionary (St. Paul, Minn. West Publishing Co.,
USA, 6th Ed. 1990)
• James R. Fox, Dictionary of International and Comparative Law ( Oceana Publication,
Inc, 3rd Ed. 2003
• L.B. Curzon, Dictionary of Law ( Pears on /Longman, UK, 6th Ed. 2002)
• L.V. Redman and A.V.H.Mory, The Romance of Research, 1923
• The Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English (Oxford, 1952)
• https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/lynch-mob
• https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/lynch-mob
• https://www.thefreedictionary.com/Mob+lynching
• https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lynch mob

NEWSPAPER

• Dainik Jagran
• Delhi Press
• Hindustan Times
• Navbharat Times
• Rajasthan Patrika

195
1
AS INTRODUCED IN THE RAJYA SABHA
ON THE 29TH DECEMBER, 2017

Bill No. XLIV of 2017

THE PROTECTION FROM LYNCHING BILL, 2017


——————
ARRANGEMENT OF CLAUSES
——————
CLAUSES
CHAPTER I

PRELIMINARY
1. Short title, extend and commencement.
2. Definitions.
CHAPTER II
DUTIES OF POLICE OFFICER AND DISTRICT MAGISTRATE
3. Duties of Police Officer.
4. Duties of District Magistrate.
CHAPTER III
PREVENTION OF ACTS LEADING TO LYNCHING
5. Duty to Prevent Lynching.
6. Power to exercise authority against mobs.
CHAPTER IV
PUNISHMENT FOR LYNCHING

7. Punishment for offence of lynching.


8. Punishment for conspiracy or abetment or aides or attempt to lynch.
9. Punishment for obstructing legal process.
CHAPTER V
OTHER OFFENCES AND PUNISHMENT
10. Punishment for dissemination of offensive material.
11. Dereliction of duty by police officer.
12. Punishment for dereliction of duty by police officer.
13. Dereliction of duty by District Magistrate.
14. Punishment for dereliction of duty by District Magistrate.

15. Punishment for enforcing a hostile environment.


CHAPTER VI
INVESTIGATION, PROSECUTION AND TRIAL
16. Application of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
17. Offences to be cognizable, non-bailable and non-compoundable.
(ii)
CLAUSES

18. Investigation by senior Police Officers.


19. Sanction not required for offences under the Act.
20. Cases triable by designated Judges.
21. Power to appoint designated Judges.
22. Procedure and power of the designated Judge.
23. Rights of victims and witnesses during trial.
24. Constitution of review committee.
CHAPTER VII
RELIEF AND REHABILITATION
25. Duty to provide compensation.
26. Displacement.
27. Establishment of relief camps.

CHAPTER VIII
APPEALS
28. Appeals.
CHAPTER IX
MISCELLANEOUS
29. Power to remove difficulties.
30. Act to be in addition to any other law.
31. Power to make rules.
1

AS INTRODUCED IN THE RAJYA SABHA


ON THE 29TH DECEMBER, 2017

Bill No. XLIV of 2017

THE PROTECTION FROM LYNCHING BILL, 2017


A

BILL
to provide for effective protection of the Constitutional rights of vulnerable persons, to
punish acts of lynching, to provide for designated courts for the expeditious trial of
such offences, for rehabilitation of victims of lynching and their families and
for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
WHEREAS the Constitution of India guarantees to all persons the right to life and
personal liberty and the Equal Protection of Laws;
AND WHEREAS in recent times, there have been a spate of incidents resulting in loss of
livelihood, injuries and death of persons at the hands of lynch mods;
AND WHEREAS it is deemed necessary and expedient to enact legislation for the protection
of these rights guaranteed by the Constitution;
BE it enacted by Parliament in the Sixty-eighth Year of the Republic of India as
follows:—
CHAPTER I
PRELIMINARY
5 1. (1) This Act may be called the Protection from Lynching Act, 2017. Short Title,
extent and
(2) It extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir. commence-
ment.
(3) The Act shall come into force within thirty days of its enactment.
2

Definitions. 2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires;


(a) “appropriate Government” means in the case of a State, the Government of
that State and in all other cases, the Central Government;
(b) “hostile environment” means intimidating or coercive environment that is
created against the victim or the family members of the victim or against any witnesses 5
or any one providing assistance to the witness or victim, which includes being subjected
to the following act—
(i) boycott of the trade or businesses of such person or making it otherwise
difficult for him or her to earn a living; or
(ii) public humiliation through exclusion from public services, including 10
education, health and transportation or any act of indignity; or
(iii) deprive or threaten to deprive such person of his or her fundamental
rights; or
(iv) force such person to leave his or her home or place of ordinary residence
or livelihood without his or her express consent; or 15

(v) any other act, whether or not it amounts to an offence under this Act,
that has the purpose or effect of creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive
environment.
(c) “lynching” means any act or series of acts of violence or aiding, abetting or
attempting an act of violence, whether spontaneous or planned, by a mob on the 20
grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth, language, dietary practices, sexual
orientation, political affiliation, ethnicity or any other related grounds.
(d) “mob” means a group of two or more individuals, assembled with an intention
of lynching.
(e) “offensive material” means any material that can be reasonably construed to 25
have been made to incite a mob to lynch a person on the grounds of religion, race,
caste, sex, place of birth, language, dietary practices, sexual orientation, political
affiliation, ethnicity or any other related grounds.
(f) “victim” means any person, who has suffered physical, mental, psychological
or monetary harm as a result of the commission of any offence under this Act, and 30
includes his or her relatives, legal guardian and legal heirs of a deceased victim.
(g) “witness” means any person who is acquainted with the facts and
circumstances, or is in possesion of any information or has knowledge necessary for
the purpose of investigation, inquiry or trial of any crime involving an offence under
this Act, and who is or may be required to give information or make a statement or 35
produce any document during investigation, inquiry or trial of such case and includes
a victim of such offence.
(h) Words and expressions used but not defined in this Act and defined in the
Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 or the Indian Penal Code shall have the meanings 2 of 1974.
assigned to them respectively in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, or as the case 40
may be, in the Indian Penal Code, 1860. 45 of 1860.

CHAPTER II
DUTIES OF POLICE OFFICER AND DISTRICT MAGISTRATE
Duties of 3. (1) Every police officer, directly in charge of maintaining law and order in an area
Police Officer. shall take all reasonable steps to prevent any act of lynching including its incitement and 45
commission; and to that end—
(i) make all possible efforts to identify instances of dissemination of offensive
material or any other means employed in order to incite or promote lynching of a
particular person or group of persons;
3

(ii) act in furtherance of the duty to prevent lynching in accordance with the
powers vested in them; and
(iii) make all possible efforts to prevent the creation of a hostile environment
against a person or group of persons.
5 (2) Every police officer shall take every possible action to the best of their ability, to
prevent the commission of all offences under this Act.
2 of 1974. 4. (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 Duties of
District
whenever the District Magistrate has reason to believe that in any area within his jurisdiction,
Magistrate.
a situation has arisen where there is an apprehension of lynching, he may, by order in writing,
10 prohibit any act which in his opinion is likely to lead to the incitement and commission of an
act of lynching.
(2) The District Masistrate shall take every possible action to the best of his or her
ability to prevent the creation of a hostile environment against a person or group of persons.
CHAPTER III
15 PREVENTION OF ACTS LEADING TO LYNCHING
5. (1) It shall be duty of every police officer, in-charge of a police station to take all Duty to
reasonable steps to prevent any incident of lynching, including its incitement, commission prevent
and possible spread in the area under their jurisdiction and to that end— lynching.

(i) make all possible efforts to identify patterns of violence in the area under their
20 jurisdiction, that indicate occurrence of targeted violence;
(ii) obtain information regarding the likelihood of an act of lynching; and
(iii) act in furtherance of the duty to prevent any act of lynching in accordance
with the powers vested in them;
(2) Every police officer exercising powers under this Act in discharge of their duties
25 shall act without any delay in a fair, impartial and non-discriminatory manner.
6. (1) It shall be the duty of every police officer in-charge of a police station to exercise Power to exer-
his authority on a mob in order to cause it to disperse. cise authority
against mobs.
(2) In exercise of his authority, a police officer in-charge of a police station may use
2 of 1974 such powers as vested under Section 129 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
30 CHAPTER IV
PUNISHMENT FOR LYNCHING
Punishment
7. Whoever commits and act of lynching—
for offence of
(a) where the act leads to the victim suffering hurt, shall be punished with lynching.
imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years and
35 with fine which may extend to one lakh rupees.
(b) where the act leads to the victim suffering grievous hurt, shall be punished
with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and
with fine which may extend to three lakh rupees.
(c) where the act leads to the death of the victim, shall be punished with rigorous
40 imprisonment for life and with fine which may extend to five lakh rupees.
8. Whoever takes part in a conspiracy or conspires to lynch another person, or abets Punishment for
or aides or attempts an act of lynching shall be punished in the same manner as if they had conspiracy or
abetment or
taken part in the actual incident of lynching. aides or
attempt to
lynch
4

Punishment 9. Any person who—


for obstructing
legal process. (a) knows or have reasonable cause to believe that any other person is guilty of
an offence under this Act, gives that other person any assistance with intent thereby
to prevent, hinder or otherwise interfere with his arrest, trial or punishment for the said
offence, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years 5
and shall also be liable to fine.
(b) threatens a witness with any injury to his person or property or to the person
or property of any one in whom that person is interested, with intent to cause harm to
that person, or to compel that person to refrain or withdraw from being a witness in any
investigation or trial under this Act shall be punished with imprisonment for a term 10
which may extend to five years and shall also be liable to fine.
CHAPTER V
OTHER OFFENCES AND PUNISHMENT

Punishment 10. Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force,
for dissemina- whoever publishes, communicates or disseminates by any method, physical or electronic, 15
tion of offen-
sive material any offensive material, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term
of not less than one year which may extend to three years, and with fine which may extend to
fifty thousand rupees.
Dereliction of 11. (1) When any police officer, directly in charge of maintaining law and order in an
duty by Police area, omits to exercise lawful authority vested in them under law, without reasonable cause, 20
Officer
and thereby fails to prevent lynching, shall be guilty of direliction of duty.
Explanation.—For the purposes of this section, direliction of duty by a police officer
shall also include the following:
(i) failure to provide protection to a victim of lynching;
(ii) failure to act upon apprehended lynching; 25

(iii) refusing to record any information under sub-section (1) of section 154 of
the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 relating to the Commission of an offence under 2 of 1974
this Act; and
(iv) failure to perform his duties under sections 3, 4 and 5 of this Act.
Punishment 12. Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law being in force, whoever 30
for dereliction
being a police officer is guilty of dereliction of duty shall be punished with imprisonment of
of duty by
Police Officer. one year, which may extend to three years, and with fine which may extend to fifty thousand
rupees.
Dereliction of 13. Whoever being a District Magistrate authorised to act under any provisions of
duty by this Act— 35
District
Magistrate. (a) exercised the lawful authority vested in him under this Act in a mala fide
manner, which causes or is likely to cause harm or injury to any person or property; or
(b) wilfully omits to exercise lawful authority vested in him under this Act and
thereby fails to prevent the commission of any act of lynching,
shall be guilty of direliction of duty 40

Punishment 14. Whoever being a District Magistrate is guilty of dereliction of duty shall be punished
for dereliction with imprisonment for a term of one year which may extend to three years, and with fine
of duty by
District
which may extend to fifty thousand rupees.
Magistrate

Punishment 15. Whoever contributes or enforces a hostile environment on a person or a group of


for enforcing persons, shall be punished with imprisonment for six months. 45
a hostile
environment
5

CHAPTER VI
INVESTIGATION, PROSECUTION AND TRIAL
7 of 1974 16. The provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, shall apply to this Act, Application
save and except as amended or supplemented to the extent provided under this Chapter. of Code of
Criminal
Procedure,
1973.
5 17. Unless otherwise specified, all offences specified under this Act, shall be cognizable, Offences to
non-bailable and non-compoundable. be cognizable,
non-bailable
and non-
compoundable.
18. No police officer below the rank of Inspector of Police shall investigate any offence Investigation
committed under this Act. by senior
Police
Officers.

2 of 1974. 19. The provisions of sections 196 and 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 Sanction not
required for
10 shall not apply to offences by police officers and the Court may take cognizance of such
offences under
offence when satisfied that the said offence has been committed. the Act.

2 of 1974. 20. Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, or in Cases triable
any other law for the time being in force, the offences specified under this Act shall be tried by Designated
Judges.
by designated Judges appointed under this Act.
15 21. (1) The appropriate Government by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint as Power to
many Designated Judges in consultation with the Chief Justice of the High Court as it may be appoint
Designated
necessary to try offences punishable under this Act. Judges.
(2) A person shall not be qualified for appointment as a Designated Judge or Additional
Designated Judge under this Act unless he or she is or has been a Sessions Judge under the
2 of 1974. 2 0 Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
22. (1) In trying the accused persons, the Designated Judge shall follow the procedure Procedure and
2 of 1974. for the trial of warrant cases prescribed by the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. power of the
Designated
(2) The provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, shall, so far as they are not Judge.
inconsistent with this Act, apply to the proceedings before a Designated Judge; and for the
25 purposes of the said provisions, the Court of the Designated Judge shall be deemed to be a
Court of Session.
(3) When trying the accused person, a Designated Judge may also try any offence,
other than an offence specified under this Act, with which the accused may, under the Code
2 of 1974 of Criminal Procedure, 1973, be charged at the same trial if the offence is connected with the
30 offence under this Act.
(4) If, in the course of any trial under this Act, it is found that the accused person has
committed any other offence, the Designated Judge may, whether such offence is or is not an
offence under this Act, try such person of such offence and pass any sentence authorised
by law for the punishment thereof.
2 of 1974. 3 5 (5) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 a
Designated Judge shall hold the trial of an offence on day-to-day basis save and except for
reasons beyond the control of parties:
Provided that where a Designated Judge is unable to hold the trial of the offence on a
day-to-day basis, the reasons for the same, shall be recorded in writing by the Designated
40 Judge.
(6) In so far as reasonably possible, all statements of victims and witnesses should be
recorded within a period of one hundred and eighty days from the date of incident.
6

(7) In so far as reasonably possible, it shall be the endeavour of the Court to ensure
that any witness is not required to attend court on more than two dates of hearing.
Rights of 23. (1) A Designated Judge may, on an application made by a witness in any proceedings
victims and before it or by the Public Prosecutor in relation to such witness or on its own motion, take
witnesses such measures as it deems fit for keeping the identity and address of the witness secret. 5
during trial.
(2) A victim shall have the right to reasonable, accurate, and timely notice of any court
proceeding and shall be entitled to be heard at any proceeding under this Act in respect of
bail, discharge, release, parole, conviction or sentence of an accused or any connected
proceedings or arguments and file written submissions on conviction, acquittal or sentencing.
(3) The Superintendent of Police, or officer designated by him or her shall inform the 10
victim in writing about the progress of investigations into the offence, whether or not the
offender has been arrested, charge-sheeted, granted bail, charged, convicted or sentenced,
and if a person has been charged with the offence, then the name of the suspected offender.
(4) The victim shall have the right to receive a copy of any statement of the witness
recorded during investigation or inquiry, and a copy of all statements and documents filed 15
under section 173 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 including the charge-sheet or 2 of 1974.
closure report submitted by police.
(5) A victim shall be entitled to receive free legal aid if he or she so chooses and to
engage any advocate who he or she chooses from among those enrolled in the legal aid
panel under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 and the Legal Aid Services Authority 2 0 39 of 1987.
established under the said Act shall pay all costs, expenses and fees of the advocate appointed
by the victim or informat in accordance with relevant rules.
(6) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law being in force, the Designated
Judge trying a case may permit the prosecution to be conducted by any advocate
recommended by the victim: 25

Provided that no person, other than the Advocate-General or Government Advocate


or a Public Prosecutor or Assistant Public Prosecutor, shall be entitled to conduct the
prosecution without the prior approval of the Designated Judge.
(7) Where the prosecution is conducted by an advocate recommended by the victim,
the expenses arising out of such service, shall be borne by the appropriate Government. 30

(8) It shall be the duty and responsibility of the appropriate Government for making
arrangements for the protection of victims and witnesses against any kind of intimidation,
coercion or inducement or violence or threats of violence.
(9) The appropriate Government shall inform the concerned Designated Judge about
the protection provided to any victim, informant or witnesse and the Designated Judge shall 35
periodically review the protection being offered under this section and pass appropriate
orders.
(10) It shall be the duty of the Investigating Officer to record the complaint of victim,
informant or witnesses against any kind of intimidation coercion or inducement or violence
or threats of violcence, whether given orally or in writting and copy of the same shall be sent 40
to the Designated Judge within twenty-four hours of recording it.
Constitution 24. (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure Act,
of review 1973, every case, registered in connection with an offence under this Act and where the
committee.
Investigating Officer does not file a charge sheet within a period of three months from the
date of registration of the First Information Report, shall be reviewed by a committee headed 45
by an officer of the level of an Inspector-General of Police to be constituted by the approprite
Government and such committee may pass orders for a further investigation by another
officer not below the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police wherever it comes to the
conclusion that, having regard to the nature of investigation already carried out, such inves-
tigation would be necessary. 50
7

(2) The Committee constituted under sub-section (1) may also review cases of such
offences where the trial ends in acquittal and issue orders for filing appeal, wherever
required.
(3) The committee shall submit a report of its findings and action taken in each case or
5 cases to the Director General of Police.
CHAPTER VII
RELIEF & REHABILITATION
25. (1) The appropriate Government through the office of the level of Chief Secretary Duty to
provide
shall provide Compensation to victims of lynching within thirty days of the incident.
compensation.
10 (2) Where the death of a person has occurred as a consequence of lynching, the
compensation for such death shall be paid to the next of kin of the deceased.
(3) While computing compensation, the appropriate Government must give due regard
to the bodily injury, psychological injury, material injury and loss of earnings including loss
of opportunity of employment and education, expenses incurred on account of legal and
15 medicinal assistance:
Provided that in no case of death caused due to lynching, should the compensation
given be less than twenty five lakh rupees.
26. (1) Where the offence under this Act has led to displacement of the victims from Displacement.
their residence, the appropriate Government shall arrange for the accommodation of the
20 victims and take all necessary steps to rehabilitate such victims.
(2) Where the offences under this Act, has to led to the displacement of more than fifty
persons, the appropriate Government shall setup relief camps in the manner specified under
Section 27.
27. (1) In accordance with sub-section 2 of section 27, the appropriate Government Establishment
25 shall establish relief camps in safe locations for all victims. of relief
Camps.
(2) Relief camps under sub-section (1) shall continue to be operated by the
appropriate Government until such persons return to their original habitations, or are
resettled in a new suitable location.
(3) Relief camps established under sub-section (1) shall, at the minimum, regardless of
30 the circumstances and without discrimination, provide such persons with:
(a) basic shelter which is appropriate and adequate to protect the residents of
the camps from extremes of the weather, and which provides due privacy especially to
women and girls;
(b) twenty four hour security at the relief camp;
35 (c) adequate nutritious and culturally appropriate food;
(d) potable drinking water;
(e) adequate clothing which is culturally appropriate and sufficient to protect
the residents of the camp from extremes of weather;
(f) essential medical services including antenatal and postnatal care of expectant
40 mothers, padiatric care and emergency and rehabilitative services for the injured and
referral services wherever necessary;
(g) adequate sanitation;
(h) psycho-social and trauma counseling and psychiatric services;
(i) child-care services for infants and small children;
45 (j) educational facilities for children;
8

(k) special facilities and assistance, as may be necessary and reasonable for the
medical condition and treatment of certain residents of the relief camps, as children,
especially unaccompanied minors, expectant mothers, mothers with young children,
female heads of households, elderly and disabled persons with special needs;
CHAPTER VIII 5

APPEALS
Appeals. 28. Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of criminal procedure, 1973; 2 of 1974

(i) an appeal shall lie as a matter of right from any judgment, sentence or order,
not being interlocutory order, of a Designated Judge to the High Court both on facts
and on law; and 10

(ii) Every appeal under this section shall be preferred within a period of sixty
days from the date of the judgment, sentence or order appealed from:
Provided that the High Court may entertain an appeal after the expiry of the said
period of sixty days if it is satisfied that the appellant had sufficient cause for not
perferring the appeal within the period of sixty days. 15

CHAPTER IX
MISCELLANEOUS
Power to 29. If any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of this Act, the Central
remove Government, may by order published in the Official Gazette, make such provisions, not
difficulties.
inconsistent with the provisions of this Act as appear to it to be necessary or expedient for 20
removing the difficulty.
Act to be in 30. The provisions of this Act shall be in addition to, and not in derogation of, any
addition to other law for the time being in force except to the extent the provisions of other laws are
any other law.
inconsistent with the provisions of this Act.
Power to make 31. The Central Government shall have the power to make rules to give effect to the 25
rules. provisions of this Act.
STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS
The idea of India, as envisaged by our founding fathers, is of one land embracing
many, a nation that may endure differences of caste, creed, colour, conviction, culture,
cuisine, costume and custom and continue to maintain its composition as a pluralistic
democracy, the underlying seamless web that unites India as a sovereign, socialist, secular,
democratic republic. Article 21 of the Constitution of India guarantees every person the right
to life and personal liberty which includes the right to a dignified existence, in celebration of
one's choices and social indentity.
The freedom of speech and expression under article 19 of the Constitution, which
includes the freedom to express one's identity and choices without fear of repercussions, is
the embodiment of the freedom that the makers of modern India dedicated their lives for.
Every Indian has the right to a dignified existence irrespective of their religion, race, caste,
sex, place of birth, language, dietary practices, sexual orientation, political affiliation, ethnicity.
The rising spate of vigilantism and mob lynching on the basis of one's individual
identity and choices threatens the notion of an all-embracing India and is a direct threat to
the Constitutional ethos of our country. This, therefore, necessitates the need for a special
law to aid vulnerable individuals and communities.
The act of wilful omissions and commissions by the custodians of the State, which
facilitates mob lynching, must be recognized as a criminal act under the eyes of the law. The
State must act as the bulwark of the freedoms enshrined in the Constitution of India, and
special procedures are required to ensure an effective and independent prosecution of
crimes, to deter the growing number of vigilante groups which act with impunity, in contempt
of the secular fabric of India.
Therefore, there is an urgent requirement to re-enforce the founding values of our
nation through special laws and procedure to curb mob lynching and related violence against
an individual Indian citizen's identity.
Hence this Bill.

K.T.S. TULSI

9
19

Bill No. 22 of 2019


(Authorised English Translation)

THE RAJASTHAN PROTECTION FROM LYNCHING


BILL, 2019
(To be introduced in the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly)

A
Bill
to provide for effective protection of the Constitutional rights of
vulnerable persons, to punish the acts of lynching, to provide for
designated courts for the expeditious trial of such offences, for
rehabilitation of victims of mob lynching and their families and for
matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
Be it enacted by the Rajasthan State Legislature in the
Seventieth Year of the Republic of India, as follows:-
CHAPTER I
Preliminary
1. Short title, extent and commencement.- (1) This Act
may be called the Rajasthan Protection from Lynching Act, 2019.
(2) It extends to the whole of the State of Rajasthan.
(3) It shall come into force on such date as the State
Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint.
2. Definitions.- In this Act, unless the context otherwise
requires,-
(a) “act of violence” means the act punishable under
section 8;
20

(b) “Deputy Superintendent of Police” includes


Assistant Commissioner of Police in a
Metropolitan area;
(c) “hostile environment” means intimidating or
coercive environment that is created against the
victim or the family members of the victim or
against any witnesses or any one providing
assistance to the witness or victim, which
includes being subjected to the following act-
(i) boycott of the trade or businesses of such
person or making it otherwise difficult
for him to earn a living; or

(ii) extern such person or his family from the


locality where he or his family has
normally been residing as permanent
resident; or

(iii) public humiliation through exclusion


from public services, including
education, health and transportation or
any act of indignity; or

(iv) deprive or threaten to deprive such person


of his fundamental right; or

(v) force such person to leave his home or


place of ordinary residence or livelihood
without his express consent; or

(vi) any other act, whether or not it amounts


to an offence under this Act, that has the
purpose or effect of creating an
intimidating, hostile or offensive
environment;
21

(d) “lynching” means any act or series of acts of


violence or aiding, abetting or attempting an act
of violence, 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;
(e) “mob” means a group of two or more
individuals;
(f) “offensive material” means any material that can
be reasonably construed to have been made to
incite a mob to lynch a person on the grounds of
religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth,
language, dietary practices, sexual orientation,
political affiliation, ethnicity or any other related
grounds;
(g) “Rajasthan Victim Compensation Scheme”
means the Rajasthan Victim Compensation
Scheme, 2011, as amended from time to time;
(h) “State” means the State of Rajasthan;
(i) “Superintendent of Police” includes Deputy
Commissioner of Police in a Metropolitan area;
(j) “victim” means any person, who has suffered
physical, mental, psychological or monetary
harm as a result of the commission of any
offence under this Act, and includes his
relatives, legal guardian and legal heirs;
(k) “witness” means any person who is acquainted
with the facts and circumstances, or is in
possession of any information or has knowledge
necessary for the purpose of investigation,
inquiry, or trial of any crime involving an
offence under this Act, and who is or may be
22

required to give information or make a


statement or produce any document during
investigation, inquiry or trial of such case and
includes a victim of such offence;
(l) Words and expressions used but not defined in
this Act and defined in the Code of Criminal
Procedure, 1973 (Central Act No. 2 of 1974) or
the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Central Act No. 45
of 1860) shall have the meanings assigned to
them respectively in the Code of Criminal
Procedure, 1973 (Central Act No. 2 of 1974), or
as the case may be, in the Indian Penal Code,
1860 (Central Act No. 45 of 1860).

CHAPTER II
Duties of Nodal Officer, Police Officer and District Magistrate
3. Nodal Officer.- (1) Director General of Police shall
appoint a State Coordinator to prevent lynching who is the officer
not below the rank of Inspector General of Police.
(2) Every District Superintendent of Police shall be the
District Coordinator, who shall be assisted by one of the Deputy
Superintendents of Police in the district for taking measures to
prevent incidents of mob violence and lynching.
4. Duties of Police Officer.- (1) Every police officer,
directly in charge of maintaining law and order in an area, shall
take all reasonable steps to prevent any act of lynching including
its incitement and commission; and to that end-
(i) make all possible efforts to identify and prevent
instances of dissemination of offensive material
or any other means employed in order to incite
or promote lynching of a particular person or
group of persons and to take all residual
measures to prevent;
23

(ii) act in furtherance of the duty to prevent lynching


in accordance with the powers vested in him;
and

(iii) make all possible efforts to prevent and eradicate


the creation of a hostile environment against a
person or group of persons which is targeted in
such incidents.

(2) Every police officer shall take every possible action to


the best of his ability, to prevent the commission of all offences
under this Act.
5. Duties of District Magistrate.- (1) Notwithstanding
anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973
(Central Act No. 2 of 1974) whenever the District Magistrate has
reason to believe that in any area within his jurisdiction, a situation
has arisen where there is an apprehension of lynching, he may, by
order in writing, prohibit any act which in his opinion is likely to
lead to the incitement and commission of an act of lynching.
(2) The District Magistrate shall take every possible action
to the best of his ability to prevent the creation of a hostile
environment against a person or group of persons which is targeted
in such incidents.

CHAPTER III
Prevention of Acts Leading to Lynching
6. Duty to prevent lynching.- (1) It shall be duty of every
police officer, in charge of a police station to take all reasonable
steps to prevent any incident of lynching, including its incitement,
commission and possible spread in the area under his jurisdiction
and to that end-
(i) make all possible efforts to identify patterns of
violence in the area under his jurisdiction, that
indicate occurrence of targeted violence;
24

(ii) obtain information regarding the likelihood of an


act of lynching; and
(iii) act in furtherance of the duty to prevent any act
of lynching in accordance with the powers vested
in them.
(2) Every police officer exercising powers under this Act in
discharge of his duties shall act without any delay in a fair,
impartial and non-discriminatory manner.
7. Power to exercise authority against mobs.- (1) It shall
be the duty of every police officer in-charge of a police station to
exercise his authority on a mob in order to cause it to disperse.
(2) In exercise of his authority, a police officer in-charge of
a police station may use such powers as vested under section 129
of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Central Act No. 2 of
1974).
(3) The police officer shall cause to register the First
Information Report under relevant provisions of law against such
persons who disseminate irresponsible and explosive messages or
videos having content which is likely to incite mob violence and
mob lynching of any nature.

CHAPTER IV

Punishment for Lynching


8. Punishment for offence of lynching.- Whoever commits
an act of lynching-

(a) where the act leads to the victim suffering hurt,


shall be punished with imprisonment of either
description for a term which may extend to
seven years and with fine which may extend to
one lakh rupees;

(b) where the act leads to the victim suffering


grievous hurt, shall be punished with
25

imprisonment of either description for a term


which may extend to ten years, and with fine
which shall not be less than twenty five
thousand rupees and may extend to three lakh
rupees;

(c) where the act leads to the death of the victim,


shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment
for life and with fine which shall not be less
than one lakh rupees and may extend to five
lakh rupees.

9. Punishment for conspiracy or abetment or aides or


attempts to lynch.- Whoever takes part in a conspiracy or
conspires to lynch another person, or abets or aides or attempts an
act of lynching shall be punished in the same manner as if he had
himself committed lynching.
10. Punishment for obstructing legal process.- Any
person who-
(a) knows or has reasonable cause to believe that
any other person is guilty of an offence under
this Act, gives that other person any assistance
with intent thereby to prevent, hinder or
otherwise interfere with his arrest, trial or
punishment for the said offence, shall be
punished with imprisonment for a term which
may extend to five years and shall also be liable
to fine which may extend to one lakh rupees;
(b) threatens a witness with any injury to his person
or property or to the person or property of any
one in whom that person is interested, with
intent to cause harm to that person, or to compel
that person to refrain or withdraw from being
a witness in any investigation, trial under this
26

Act shall be punished with imprisonment for a


term which may extend to five years and shall
also be liable to fine which may extend to one
lakh rupees.

CHAPTER V
Other Offences and Punishment

11. Punishment for dissemination of offensive material.-


Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time
being in force, whoever publishes, communicates or disseminates
by any method, physical or electronic, any offensive material, shall
be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term of
not less than one year but which may extend to three years, and
with fine which may extend to fifty thousand rupees.
12. Punishment for enforcing a hostile environment.-
Whoever contributes or enforces a hostile environment on a person
or a group of persons shall be punished with imprisonment which
may extend to five years and shall also be liable to fine which may
extend to one lakh rupees.

CHAPTER VI

Investigation, Prosecution and Trial


13. Application of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.-
The provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure , 1973 (Central
Act No. 2 of 1974), shall apply to this Act, save as amended or
supplemented to the extent provided under this Chapter.
14. Offences to be cognizable, non–bailable and non-
compoundable.- Unless otherwise specified, all offences specified
under this Act, shall be cognizable, non-bailable and non–
compoundable.
15. Investigation by senior police officer.- No police
officer below the rank of Inspector of Police shall investigate any
offence committed under this Act.
27

16. Cases triable by Designated Judges.- Notwithstanding


anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973
(Central Act No. 2 of 1974), or in any other law for the time being
in force, the offences specified under this Act shall be tried by
Designated Judges appointed under this Act.
17. Power to appoint Designated Judges.- (1) The State
Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint as
many Designated Judges in consultation with the Chief Justice of
the High Court as it may be necessary to try offences punishable
under this Act.
(2) A person shall not be qualified for appointment as a
Designated Judge under this Act unless he is or has been a Sessions
Judge under the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Central Act
No. 2 of 1974).
18. Procedure and power of the Designated Judge.- (1) A
Designated Judge may take cognizance of any offence, without the
accused being committed to it for trial, upon a police report.
(2) In trying the accused persons, the Designated Judge
shall follow the procedure for the trial of warrant cases prescribed
by the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Central Act No. 2 of
1974).
(3) The provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure,
1973(Central Act No. 2 of 1974), shall, so far as they are not
inconsistent with this Act, apply to the proceedings before a
Designated Judge; and for the purposes of the said provisions, the
Court of the Designated Judge shall be deemed to be a Court of
Session.
(4) When trying the accused person, a Designated Judge
may also try any offence, other than an offence specified under
this Act, with which the accused may, under the Code of Criminal
Procedure, 1973 (Central Act No. 2 of 1974), be charged at the
same trial if the offence is connected with the offence under this
Act.
(5) If, in the course of any trial under this Act, it is found
that the accused person has committed any other offence, the
Designated Judge may, whether such offence is or is not an offence
28

under this Act, try such person of such offence and pass any
sentence authorized by law for the punishment thereof.
(6) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of
Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Central Act No. 2 of 1974) a
Designated Judge shall hold the trial of an offence on day-to-day
basis save for reasons beyond the control of parties:
Provided that where a Designated Judge is unable to hold
the trial of the offence on day-to-day basis, the reasons for the
same, shall be recorded in writing by the Designated Judge.
(7) In so far as reasonably possible, all statements of
victims and witnesses should be recorded within a period of one
hundred and eighty days from the date of framing the charge.
(8) In so far as reasonably possible, it shall be the endeavor
of the Court to ensure that any witness is not required to attend the
Court on more than two dates of hearing.
19. Rights of victims and witnesses during trial. - (1) A
Designated Judge may, on an application made by a witness in any
proceedings before it or by the Public Prosecutor in relation to
such witness or on its own motion, take such measures as it deems
fit for keeping the identity and address of the witness secret.
(2) A victim shall have the right to reasonable, accurate,
and timely notice of any court proceeding and shall be entitled to
be heard at any proceeding under this Act in respect of bail,
discharge, release, parole, conviction or sentence of an accused or
any connected proceedings or arguments and file written
submissions on conviction, acquittal or sentencing.
(3) The Superintendent of Police or an officer designated by
him shall inform the victim in writing about the progress of
investigations into the offence, whether or not the offender has
been arrested, charge-sheeted, granted bail, charged, convicted or
sentenced, and if a person has been charged with the offence, then
the name of the suspected offender.
(4) The victim shall have the right to receive a copy of any
statement of the witness recorded during investigation or inquiry,
and a copy of all statements and documents filed under section
173 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Central Act No. 2 of
29

1974) including the charge-sheet or closure report submitted by


police.
(5) A victim shall be entitled to receive free legal aid if he
so chooses and to engage any advocate who he chooses from
among those enrolled in the legal aid panel under the Legal
Services Authorities Act, 1987 (Central Act No. 39 of 1987) and
the Legal Services Authority established under the said Act shall
pay all costs, expenses and fees of the advocate appointed by the
victim or informant in accordance with relevant rules.

(6) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for


the time being in force, the Designated Judge trying a case may
permit the prosecution to be conducted by any advocate
recommended by the victim:

Provided that no person, other than the Advocate-General


or Government Advocate or a Public Prosecutor or Assistant Public
Prosecutor, shall be entitled to conduct the prosecution without the
prior approval of the Designated Judge.

(7) Where the prosecution is conducted by an advocate


recommended by the victim, the expenses arising out of such
service shall be borne by the State Government.

(8) It shall be the duty and responsibility of the State


Government for making arrangements for the protection of victims
and witnesses against any kind of intimidation, coercion or
inducement of violence or threats of violence.

(9) The State Government shall inform the Designated


Judge about the protection provided to any victim, informant or
witness and the Designated Judge shall periodically review the
protection being provided under this section and pass appropriate
orders.

(10) It shall be the duty of the police officer to receive and


record the complaint of victim, informant or witnesses against any
kind of intimidation coercion or inducement or violence or threats
of violence, whether given orally or in writing and copy of the
30

same shall be sent to the Designated Judge within twenty-four


hours of recording it.

CHAPTER VII
Relief and Rehabilitation
20. Treatment of victim.- All hospitals, public or private,
whether run by the Central Government, the State Government,
local bodies or any other person, shall immediately provide the first
aid or medical treatment free of cost to victim and shall
immediately inform the police of such incident.
21. Compensation of lynching.- (1) The State Government
shall provide compensation to the victim as per Rajasthan Victim
Compensation Scheme.
(2) Any fine imposed under section 8 shall be paid to the
victim or his legal heir, as the case may be.
22. Displacement.- (1) Where the offence under this Act
has led to displacement of the victims from their residence, the
State Government shall arrange for the accommodation of the
victims and take all necessary steps to rehabilitate such victims.
(2) Where the offences under this Act, has to lead to the
displacement of more than fifty persons, the State Government
shall set up relief camps in the manner prescribed by rules.
23. Establishment of relief camps.- (1) The State
Government shall establish relief camps in safe locations for all
victims.
(2) Relief camps established under sub-section (1) shall
continue to be operated by the State Government until such persons
return to their original habitations, or are resettled in a new suitable
location.
(3) Relief camps established under sub-section (1) shall, at
the minimum, regardless of the circumstances and without
discrimination, provide such persons with-
(a) basic shelter which is appropriate and adequate to
protect the residents of the camps from extremes
31

of the weather, and which provides due privacy


especially to women and girls;
(b) twenty four hour security at the relief camp;
(c) adequate nutritious and culturally appropriate
food;
(d) potable drinking water;
(e) adequate clothing which is culturally appropriate
and sufficient to protect the residents of the camp
from extremes of weather;
(f) essential medical services including antenatal and
postnatal care of expectant mothers, pediatric
care and emergency and rehabilitative services
for the injured and referral services wherever
necessary;
(g) adequate sanitation;
(h) psycho-social and trauma counseling and
psychiatric services;
(i) child-care services for infants and small children;
(j) educational facilities for children;
(k) special facilities and assistance, as may be
necessary and reasonable for the medical
condition and treatment of certain residents of the
relief camps, as children, especially
unaccompanied minors, expectant mothers,
mothers with young children, female heads of
households, elderly and disabled persons with
special needs.

CHAPTER VIII

Appeals
24. Appeals.- Notwithstanding anything contained in the
Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Central Act No. 2 of 1974),-
(i) an appeal shall lie as a matter of right from any
judgment, sentence or order, not being
interlocutory order, of a Designated Judge to the
High Court both on facts and on law; and
32

(ii) every appeal under this section shall be preferred


within a period of sixty days from the date of the
judgment, sentence or order appealed from:
Provided that the High Court may entertain an
appeal after the expiry of the said period of sixty days if it is
satisfied that the appellant had sufficient cause for not
preferring the appeal within the period of sixty days.
CHAPTER IX
Miscellaneous
25. Power to remove difficulties.- (1) If any difficulty
arises in giving effect to the provisions of this Act, the State
Government may, by order, published in the Official Gazette, make
such provisions not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act as
may appear to be necessary for removing the difficulty:
Provided that no such order shall be made under this section
after the expiry of two years from the commencement of this Act.
(2) Every order made under this section shall be laid, as
soon as may be after it is made, before the House of the State
Legislature.
26. Act to be in addition to any other law.- The
provisions of this Act shall be in addition to, and not in derogation
of, any other law for the time being in force except to the extent the
provisions of other laws are inconsistent with the provisions of this
Act.
27. Power to make rules.- (1) The State Government may
make rules for carrying out the purposes of this Act.
(2) All rules made under this section shall be laid, as soon
as may be after they are so made, before the House of the State
Legislature, while it is in session, for a period of not less than
fourteen days, which may comprise in one session or in two
successive sessions and, if before the expiry of the sessions in
which they are so laid or of the sessions immediately following, the
House of the State Legislature makes any modification in any of
such rules or resolves that any such rule should not be made, such
rule shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of
no effect, as the case may be, so however, that any modification or
33

annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything


previously done thereunder.
__________
34

STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS


Whereas the Constitution of India guarantees to all persons
the right to life and personal liberty and the Equal protection of
laws. In recent times there have been many of incidents resulting in
loss of livelihood, injuries and death of persons at the hands of mob
lynching. Supreme Court of India in its Judgment dated 17.7.2018
in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 754/2016 Tehseen S.Poonawalla Vs
Union of India and Others has recommended for enacting
legislation in this regard. Therefore, it is proposed to nip the evil in
the bud and to prevent spreading of hatred or incitement to Mob
lynching by creating special offences against such Mob lynching in
addition to other offences under the Indian Penal Code.
The Bill seeks to achieve the aforesaid objectives.
Hence the Bill.

ध्ोि हलोक2
Minister Incharge.
35

MEMORANDUM REGARDING DELEGATED


LEGISLATION

Following clauses of the Bill, if enacted, shall empower the


State Government to make rules with respect to matters mentioned
against each such clause.

Clauses With respect to


22(2) Prescribing the manner, in which relief camps
shall be set up.
27 generally to carry out the Purposes of this Act.

The proposed delegation is of normal character and relates


to the matters of detail.

ध्ोि हलोक2
Minister Incharge.
This questionnaire related to aspects of Mob lynching in India. Every
characteristic and work has been represented in the form of
statements. Every statement is followed statements with four obtions
i.e. Agree, Strongly agree, Disagree, Silent

You have to tick one of them to your opinion.

Name ……………………………………………………………………………………………………

Occupation ……………………………………………………………………………………………

Place ……………………………………………………………………………………………………

Age ………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Sex ………………………………………………………………………………………………………

SCORING TABLE

Agree Strongly agree Disagree Silent Total

Score
Obtained
Strongly
S. No. Statement Agree Disagree Silent
agree

Does India need a separate law for Mob


1
Lynching

Whether Mob Lynching has become a


recurring Phenomenon in India which is
2.
surging hate violence targeting Religious
and caste Minorities

Is India becoming a destination of mob


3
lynching

4 Should Mob lynching be criminalized

Can a strong law be the best solution to


5
stop mob lynching in India

Whether Mob lynching is Phenomenon in


6
which mob performs extra judicial killing.

Should Mob lynching be related with the


7
religion

Are whatsapp, twitter, Facebook or


8
media be responsible for mob lynching

Are you alert of lynching or Incidents of


9 mob violence that are taking place in our
country.
Does provisions of IPC and Cr.PC.
10 sufficient to punish the wrong doer
related to mob lynching.
Whether political conspiracy or
11 ineffective govt. machinery can be the
reason for increasing the mob violence.
The two high level committee set up by
the central govt to advise ways and legal
frame work to successfully deals with
12
incidents of mob violence and lynching .
Whether it is the best way to reduce the
incidents of mob lynching.

13 Should mob lynching be legal


Recently Rajasthan govt. passed bill
related to Mob lynching to criminalize the
14
offender. Is this sufficient to stop the
lynching incidents

Whether govt has serious to deal the


15
incident related to mob violence

Whether it is the state’s responsibility to


enforce rule of law rather than people
16
enforcing vigilantism resulting in mob
violence
Is lynching based on identity
17 discrimination against a whole
community
Lack of awareness among masses that get
18 influenced by such fake news and
misleading statements.
As recommended by supreme court, the
19 parliament should enact a new anti-
lynching law
The court has directed state govt to
appoint police officer, not below the rank
of SP as nodal officer in charge of
20
Preventing mob violence. Should
implementation of this direction be
followed diligently
Whether Mob lynching based on identity
discriminates against a whole community
21
and violates fundamental rights provided
by the constitution of India
Whether failure of administration in
taking timely and adequate action against
22 such incidents has allowed these crimes
to grow with impunity in pockets of the
country
Whether these events have raised
questions on not only the institutional
capacity to enforce law and orders but
23
wider questions regarding history and
civics of Indian society, its social fabric
and sprit of tolerance, brotherhood

Is Mob lynching is undoubtedly a heinous


24
crime

Whether there is need for making


25 amendment to IPC and CRPC to deal with
cases of mob lynching across the country
Whether various programs on school
levels to be arranged on topics like
26
respect, moral values, rational thinking
to stop these crimes

Is mob lynching is against the spirit of


27
our constitution i.e. fundamental rights

Is there any International effect of mob


28
lynching in India

Should mob lynching be classified under


29
terrorism in Indian law

Suggestions if any: - ………………………......................................................


MOB LYNCHING IN INDIA - UPCOMING CHALLENGES
BEFORE LEGISLATURE: A CRITICALLY STUDY

A Thesis Submitted in Fulfilment of the Requirement for the


Award of Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
in

Law

Submitted By
Meenu Yadav

Under the Supervision of


Dr. Rituja Sharma
Associate Professor
Department of Legal Studies
Banasthali Vidyapith
Rajasthan

FACULTY OF LAW
BANASTHALI VIDYAPITH
(RAJASTHAN, INDIA)
2021

i
CHAPTER-VIII

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS

Life is priceless, and the cutting-edge state is obligated to protect the lives of its citizens. Under
Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, the state bears the responsibility of ensuring the lives of a
large number of people. Be that as it may, the ongoing expanding episodes of horde lynching and
the occurrences of slaughter are a test to the legislature. These violations should be checked to
ensure the majority rule the government of the country. During this investigation, we have
determined that the rate at which man butchering is increasing necessitates the enactment of
novel legislation to handle the crime of crowd lynching and slaughter. Furthermore, the country's
customary law is insufficient to handle such offences. Mob lynching and brutality are some of
the harshet, callous, and corrupt forms of violence. Lynching is depends upon the behaviour of
society and it is being accepted. There are no role of religion, caste, race, beleif, or group of
people. Not a single reason behind the iginition of lynching is greater than the other. Any action
leading to violence must be punished. Racial outbreaks actions against Nigerian students who
were suspected of doing drugs, people suspected of carrying beef, local communities are given
fatwā to kill people, as well as the murder of a 70-year sage that happened recently and two
others by an angry mob, are all different aspects of mob lynching. A similar pattern follows
throughout, an all-out notion of the judge, jury, and executioner acting on the very occasion, the
most talked-about sentence, enhancing the sense of justice through lynching and mutilating,
while the gathering delightfully witnesses the show. In the Kangaroo Court case, the Supreme
Court of India was overshadowed by such "extra-judicial killings" and stated categorically that
lynching was unfavorable to the Rule of Law. In July 2018, the Supreme Court released specific
recommendations on the preventive, corrective, and punitive aspects of lynching, instructing
state governments to implement them as soon as possible.The SHO was ordered to take urgent
steps to file a FIR, and if it was discovered that the police had failed to prevent such an activity,
the officers would face appropriate consequences. To ensure a rapid conviction of mob lynchers,
special fast track courts were established.

169
When one political party maintains silence and does not denounce such heinous lynchings, they
forget that it will soon be their turn, because you've encouraged the public to take law into their
own hands, they'll soon suffer the same fate.

Mob justice is a symptom of the state's inability to keep the pledge of successful justice
dispensation, as experience has repeatedly shown. Mob lynching is an affront to human dignity,
a significant violation of the international human rights pledge, and breach of Article 21 of the
Constitution's essential principles.

The Supreme Court laid forth many preventative, remedial, and corrective measures to deal with
lynching and mob abuse in its decision in Tahseen S. Poonawala V. UOI (WP(C) No.754/2016).
States were required to set up separate fast-track courts in each district to handle only mob
lynching cases.The establishment of a special task force to collect intelligence information has
been suggested by the court, on anyone who distributes hate speeches, inflammatory remarks,
and false news that could contribute to mob lynching. Victim compensation programs were also
to be developed for the treatment and reconstruction of victims, according to the directives. A
year later, in July 2019, the Supreme Court issued notifications to the Centre and several states,
instructing them to put the measures into effect and produce compliance reports. The nations'
ambiguous response was a great disappointment. Manipur, West Bengal, and Rajasthan are the
only three states that have approved a law prohibiting mob lynching.

Any time there is an instance of honour killings, hate crimes, witch hunts, or mob lynching, we
want specific legislation to deal with them. These crimes, however, are all murders, and the
present IPC and CrPC rules are sufficient to deal with them. We are adequately prepared to deal
with mob lynching, thanks to the guidelines developed in Poonawala's case. What we miss,
though, is the adequate implementation of current legislation and enforcement agency
transparency.
Our justice system has been tarnished by mob brutality. It derives from the irrational notion of
vigilantism which contributes to the disorder. With an iron fist, such excrescence must be
curtailed. In a human country, the law is the most powerful ruler. The dignity of justice cannot be
shattered just because a person or a party adopts the perspective that they have been enabled by
the norms established down in law to take their implementation into their own hands and finally

170
become a law unto themselves, punishing violators on their presumption and in the manner that
233
they deem proper Krishnamoorthy V. Sivakumar and others . For every democratic
civilization to survive, the rule of law must be followed.
One of the most critical facets of a democratic society is freedom of expression.It allows the
people to participate in the social, legal, and political happenings of their country. This freedom
is a part of a fundamental right that means the basic right, without which a person cannot live
and develop in society.
With the use of free speeches, people could come together to achieve political, social and legal
goals. Sound discussions not only enlighten the citizens but also give a solution to a burning
issue.
This freedom is so important that it is guaranteed not only by the constitutions of many countries
but also by various acts, protocols, international conventions and many more.
We can say that this Freedom which is the essence of a free society is at one side a mother of
many other rights like the Right to Information, freedom of expression and the right to spread or
publish one's views are valuable, but on the other hand, it also breeds a slew of negative
consequences, like defamation, a provocation to commit a crime and hate speech. Therefore this
Freedom of Speech and expression, though a very important one, was not made absolute by the
constitution-makers. Article 19(2) of the Indian Constitution has several limits on a variety of
reasons, including if it is against the state's security, sovereignty, and integrity, friendly relations
with other nations, public order, decency, or morality, or if it is causing contempt of court, libel,
or incitement to a crime. As a result, not only the law but also our beliefs and ethics dictate that
we should not speak anything that may cause problems for others as well as ourselves. But the
human behavior never accepted these limits. On daily basis, you can find a lot of evidence where
these limits have been crossed. Take the comments of Mr Azam Khan (MPfrom Rampur UP) on
BJP leader Jayaprada or the comments of Congress President Mr Rahul Gandhi on PM Mr
NarendraModi that “Chaukidarchorhai” or the comments of CM of WestBengal Ms Mamta
Benarjee on peoples slogan Jai Shri Ram.‟Apart from this the speeches of the Owaisi brothers
(AIMIM Leaders) against Hindus, Speeches of Raj Thackrey (MNS leader) against North
Indians are themselves offensive. Is this considered part of the right to free speech and
expression? Never, ever! It is not speech that falls under the scope of Article 19 of the Indian

233
(2015) 3 SCC 467)

171
Constitution, but hate speech, which is communication that incites, encourages, or justifies
hatred, violence, or discrimination against an individual or a group of individuals for several
reasons. In cases of blasphemy, lynching may be witnessed in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Mob
against theaccused are always instigated by hate speech. Apart from this cases of mob lynching
in Pakistan, Bangladesh and even in Jammu & Kashmir and West Bengal against a particular
community is very common and every time you can notice hate speech.

LEGISLATIVE & JUDICIAL STEPS TO CURB HATE SPEECH & MOB LYNCHING
Mob lynching is not an ordinary crime. “Citizens cannot take the law into their own hands or
become a law unto themselves,” the Supreme Court of India added, adding "horrendous actions
of mobocracy" cannot become the new normal. As a result, a particular law to combat the
possibility of mob lynching is urgently required. The SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989
has shown to be an effective deterrent in cases of mob lynching against scheduled castes and
scheduled tribes, but for others, swift legislation is required. Following the Supreme Court's
decision to put an end to mob lynchings, the Union Government expressed its first concern and
took efforts to address mob lynching events on July 23, 2018. It established a high-level
committee, led by the Union Home Secretary, to investigate the matter and make
recommendations within four weeks. In addition, the government formed a Group of Ministers,
led by the Union Home Minister, to review the high-level committee's recommendations. The
Group of Ministers now includes the Ministers for External Affairs, Road Transport and
Highways, Shipping, Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Law and
Justice, and Social Justice and Empowerment. Apart from this, in the aftermath of the incidents,
social organizations, media houses and student communities are trying to join hands to create
awareness on the responsible use of networking websites.
When we talk about the laws, which can curb these violent activities, we have a lot but not a
specific law on this particular issue. The Indian Penal Code does not utilise the term "lynching"
(IPC). According to Section 223(a) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1973, individuals
or a mob accused of the same crime can be tried together. This provision hasn't helped provide
justice in lynching incidents in any way. Apart from this Article 19 & 21 of the Constitution of
India itself contain provisions regulating freedom of speech that causes violence. Sections 124A,
153A, 153B,295A, 298 & 505 of Indian Penal Code, Sections 8, 123 &125 of Representation of

172
The People Act, 1951, Section 7 of Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955, Section 3 of Religious
Institutions (Prevention of Misuse) Act, 1988, Sections 5 and 6 ofCable Television Network
Regulation Act, 1995, Sections 4, 5B & 7, Sections 95, 107, 144 &155 of Code of Criminal
Procedure, 1973 have provisions to curb the hate speeches that may cause violence either in the
forms of riots or mob lynching.
Multiple laws on one issue, each of which is vague, have rendered the situation uncontrolled,
necessitating the adoption of a single law on the subject. The Indian Supreme Court has also
labelled lynching as "horrific acts of mobocracy," ordering the Centre and state governments to
take preventative, corrective, and punitive measures to stop it with iron hands. In the meanwhile,
the police have been instructed to file a FIR under Section 153A of the Indian Penal Code and
other applicable legislation against anybody who engages in such actions. The Supreme Court
has urged that day-to-day trials in fast track courts be used to speed up the process and that
criminals in mob lynching instances be punished to the full extent of the law. On both the
Supreme Court's and the Bombay High Court's orders, the Maharashtra government had assured
that formulating a policy on cases mob lynching and is under process but Manipur has become
the first state to make law on this burning issue. The Supreme Court has also directed the central
government and state governments to adopt precautionary, curative, and remedial actions to keep
it in check.
The progressing cases are extending anyway close by increase they are creating also. Crowd
lynching is another sort of mobocracy. We've seen how lynching has risen, and how it's been
manufactured, in the context of American civil rights progress. Despite this, due to the structure
of the American government, not all states have anti-lynching law. India is a diverse country
with many different situations and traits, and to maintain order amid diverse common and
stringent social events, the law is based on the central principles of the Indian Constitution.
However, consider how unlikely it is that there is shared law and strict individuality among
people. The rule governs how a quarrel begins, with the ultimate purpose of lowering the
vibrations of the conflict. Since independence, there has been a conflict between Hindus and
Muslims, and the most of mob lynchings have resulted from 'dairy monsters butcher' instances or
merely a question provoking mob lynching. Concernsthat are pointless a short mass lynching in
which blameless persons are apprehended and denied their right to self-defense.

173
As a result, under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, the ultimate goal of the Constitution is to
protect people's lives. It maintains the Preamble's basic principles, which are articulated in the
Constitution. Legislation should be created to admonish the mobs that lynch in the end; no one
stands to gain by putting the law in their hands. Military solicitation or trademark infringement
can take a person's life solely based on the law. A weight of severe hazard should be constrained
which will have a snag effect as for society who remember for crowd lynching. My research goal
is to create an inside and out coordinated legislation, similar to MASUKA, that will save and
protect a man's right to life. The material presented here has confirmed my support for passing
and executing anti-lynching law, such as instances connected to lynching in India and provisions
now in the IPC. All of this confirms my intention to develop an alternative strategy for anti-
lynching legislation under the IPC, which will allow for the enforcement of anti-lynching laws in
India. It is also assumed that "MASUKA" is a draught that has been displayed by mass meetings
to combat the crime of lynching; nevertheless, the text does not address the crime of massacre. It
is critical to include a section in this draught for the crime of slaughter. The proposal is excellent
and handles virtually all of the difficulties related to preventing crowd lynchings. However, we
have identified the need for certain adjustments, such as in the fundamental study of the
document, and we recommend that those adjustments be included in the document before it is
converted into an Act. Horde Lynching ought to be halted as it advances viciousness, disdain,
war and so forth. Lynching isn't at all sound for a nation and its general public. Individuals ought
to comprehend that each life is significant. Slaughtering somebody on only doubt isn't defended.
Individuals should also avoid taking law into their own hands. The courts and the police are in
charge of enforcing discipline. There isn't any other option than to resort to violence. Individuals
can influence the whole audience just by speaking. If you need to change something in the
public, "raise your voice, not your hand." More than that, the government should pass
MASUKA, a new statute that will bring legitimate and political figures together to try to find a
solution. Furthermore, more lives will be saved in the next years as a result of this. QUIT MOB
LYNCHING!

The good Supreme Court has missed the point about lynching. The issue isn't that we need more
laws to be passed in the middle. Nor does the declaration by the home priests motivate a lot of
certainties. This isn't an issue that has a top-down arrangement. Lynching isn't so a lot of an
across the nation issue as a Hindi belt one. It's is to do with the inclination among numerous

174
Hindus, a few however not all with Parivar ties that a BJP government is an open greeting to
thrash or slaughter Muslims. The issue might be bovine as in Alwar or similarly as bury strict
marriage as in Ghaziabad. There might be gossipy tidbits that a family, perpetually Muslim is
eating or putting away hamburgers in their home. Any reason will do. Online networking help
enroll a moment horde, who get their rushes from persevering Muslim men. The event of these
cases is neighborhood and restricted to the BIMARU states. Peace is a state subject. We have
impeccably satisfactory laws in IPC to manage the issue. It's isn't the absence of laws however an
absence of will to uphold the law which is the issue. The lazy disposition of the Alwar police
toward the casualty of lynching shows that to the extent they were concerned, getting dairy
animals back under insurance was a higher priority than taking care of the half-dead Muslim man
under their consideration.

State-level policing has been an embarrassment for quite a long time, particularly in the Hindi
belt. Under the Samajwadi Party in UP or the RJD in Bihar lawbreakers were profoundly put in
governmental issues. Grabbing and coercion were overflowing. Each new gathering in control
UP begins by moving police around the states so they can get their top choices of insignificant
posts. Individuals from the nearby governing gathering realize they have insusceptibility from
indictment. MLAs and MPs carry on like neighborhood rajas. In UP as of late an MLA was
attentive in an assault case which additionally prompted the demise of the assault injured
individual's Father as he was severely tormented. At the point when equity will do is impossible
to say. We have broken legal executive at the nearby levels to add to the politically controlled
police. Some of the time the haughtiness of the culprits of such activity coordinates its
terribleness. In Kathua there has been a statement of regret however one of those engaged with
the dissent backing the denounced has propelled a Jammu territorial development. That would
bring the police absolutely under political control. None of this issue is amiable to an answer by
the middle giving a warning or passing a law. The truth of the matter is that in numerous pieces
of India, the state has separated. The test is to reestablish a decent administration, making the
police free of nearby political position, remaking the legal executive at the neighborhood level,
to reexamine the neighborhood state. Indeed, horde lynching is all around us...It has consistently
been. Yet, we have all been careless regarding its reality until somebody called attention to the
rank or religion of the person in question. Have you never observed the individual associated

175
with a mishap getting a strong whipping from the horde? Have you never observed a frivolous
cheat getting beaten beat up in the center of a market? The Incidents of horde lynching fuelled by
counterfeit news are anymore not the same as the one referenced previously. In every one of the
cases, the crowd works on a similar mindset. Much the same as there can't be great psychological
oppression and awful fear-mongering, the same path there can't be great horde lynching and
terrible crowd lynching. Things being what they are, what is at the shortcoming here? The
disorder happens where the overall population doesn't have faith in the police and in India this is
only the situation. The commission mentioned multiple incidences of lynching in the state in
its 128th report, recommending prompt passage of law based on Supreme Court
recommendations from 2018. 234

The Supreme Court sent a notice to the Centre and many state governments in July, stating
that they had failed to comply with the ruling. While the application of rules is one of the
causes for the persistence of mob lynchings, what is frequently overlooked is how the police
and society regard these instances in general. 235

Despite the Supreme Court's intervention, a study on police in India issued in 2020 by Delhi-
based NGO Common Cause and CSDS offered a key clue as to why mob lynchings continue
to occur. As per the statistics, 35% of police officers questioned feel it is natural for a mob to
punish the culprit in cases of cow slaughter, 35% feel it is usual for a mob to punish the
perpetrator in cases of human trafficking, and 43% feel it is usual for a mob to punish a rape
suspect. 236

When it comes to incidents of mob lynching, police officers are not always serious. Pehlu
Khan's lynching in Rajasthan is a great case in point. The state police filed a charge sheet for
cow smuggling against the dead, who was killed by a mob of self-styled gaurakshaks in Alwar
in 2017 for transporting animals. 237

Other key factor explaining why mob lynchings continue to occur is that the concept of so-
called "instant" justice is quite popular in our society. As psychologist and Supreme Court

234
http://upslc.upsdc.gov.in/mediagallery/7threport.ppc
235
https://the wise.in/law/moblynching-supreme-court-notice-implement-direction
236
https://thewire.in/government/police-in-Indiaendorse-encounter-killing-mob-punishment-study
237
https://thewire.in/rights/alwer/mob-lynching-pehlu-khan-chargesheet-congress-rule

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counselAnujaTrehanKapur correctly points out, this means that society feels obligated to act
in problems without even knowing the issue.

As per to Kapur, “Lynching happens when a mob gets together and they feel that they have a
responsibility towards society and that the police or any administrative body can’t do justice
to that responsibility.”

There is a common assumption that 'criminals' go unpunished, and that individuals accused of
heinous crimes like as rape, child trafficking, and cow slaughter are likely to get away with it.

Furthermore, a review of many cases demonstrates that whether the alleged crime is
committed by a Muslim, Dalit, Christian, or tribal person, such so-called forms of justice are
more frequently accepted. Discrimination against Muslims and Dalits, according to an EPW
report, "continues to plague the very institutions supposed to produce a better society." 238”

As per data, Muslims, who account for 14.8% of India's population, have been victims of 60%
of hate crimes, Christians 2% of the population in 14% of cases, and Hindus 79.8% of the
population in 14% of cases.Furthermore, according to the Common Cause and CSDS report,
50% of officers believe Muslims are predisposed to crime. In reality, individuals must realise
that their act of delivering "immediate justice" is a major criminal in and of itself. And a
crime cannot be retaliated against by another crime.

The announcement by the Centre in May 2017 regarding cow slaughter was well timed to
coincide with the Ramzan celebration.The sale of cattle in animal markets for the purpose of
slaughter is normally a state matter, but the Centre issued this notice under the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals (Regulation of Livestock Markets) Rules 2017, which prohibits the sale of
cattle in animal markets for the purpose of slaughter. What the state appears to be unwilling to
acknowledge is that notices like these legitimise the increasingly common practise of lynching.
Despite the huge number of occurrences of cow vigilantism at the time, the notification was
issued, allowing these "gau-rakshaks" to behave even more freely.

238
https://www.livemint.com/politics/69nrdm80MLVspvNHgdBpsk/the discrimination-dalits and muslim-face.in-India-html.

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The state had been alerted to the fact that vigilantism had become a common occurrence against
Muslims, and it had a responsibility to handle the matter of yet another fatality on public
property caused by non-state actors. In the case of Junaid Khan's murder, it's hard to believe that
a crowd could encircle and abuse young boys on a train, i.e. public property, and walk away
unpunished and unaccountable. Railway officials must be held liable for allowing this savagery
to occur within the train's confines. The state has often failed to hold self-proclaimed invigilators
responsible. They have also taken away the right to life of another little youngster, Junaid. As a
result, the State must compensate the victim's family for the breach of his basic right on
government property.

Manipur, Rajasthan, and West Bengal have all enacted legislation that includes the majority of
the Supreme Court's directives. Lynching is defined as an act of mob violence motivated by
religion, caste, sex, birthplace, language, dietary practises, sexual orientation, political affiliation,
or ethnicity, according to these statutes. They also define what constitutes a "hostile
environment" and "offensive material" that must be restricted in dissemination. The statutes of
the three states, however, are not similar.

In Manipur, for example, a law empowers the state government to impose a collective fine on
people of a certain region if the government suspects they are involved in lynching or a similar
crime. This provision is not included in the Rajasthan anti-lynching bill 239. In addition, the two
states have different approaches to holding cops accountable for failing to prevent lynchings. The
legislation in Manipur punishes police officers with a year in prison, but the legislation in
Rajasthan does not contain a corresponding provision. However, the punishment for lynching is
the same in both states. They provide that if a lynching victim dies, the criminals shall be
sentenced to life in jail. The West Bengal legislation, on the other hand, stipulates that the
highest penalty for this crime is death. 240

Laws that are too strict aren't the only way to solve an issue. They are included in the solution set
and must be augmented with additional measures. The most crucial condition for preserving
peace and order in the states is a sufficient, competent, and responsive police force. Data
gathered by the bureau of police force and training revealed weaknesses in our states' police

239
https://rajassembly.nic.in/legislation/Bill/Bill22-2019pdf.
201.https://timesofIndia.com/city/kolkata/new-law-against-lynch-makes-death-punishable-with-death/articlesshow/70917470.cms

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forces. 241Our police forces, for example, are highly overworked. In 2017, state police forces had
a vacancy rate of 21.8 percent. They also have mobility and weapons limitations. 242

SUGGESTIONS

There are several suggestions for dealing with lynchings by mobs.

• A new law- A new law will set accountability of personnel who are engaging in law and
order maintenance.It will create fear and deterrence among the masses, not to take law in
their hands.If a person's life or property is endangered as a result of a mob lynching, the
perpetrators shall face severe punishment and reparation.

• Get in touch with of police with local people- There should be personal regular meeting
of police with the local people, children and youth in college and increase people's faith
in police and administration.

• Spread Awareness Campaign –Dueto the growth of mob lynching incidents there
should be organized social awareness and literacy campaign programs at every level in
colleges, schools and institutions with the help of administration and NGO'S.

• To declare National offence- Instead of introducing so many sub sections in existing


law, declare this offence as a national offence in existing law and focus on the execution
and implementation of law.

• To stop the fake news and hate news- WhatsApp, twitter, Instagram and other social
sites are responsible for spreading the fake news and hate news.So to prevent the fake
news and hate speeches social sites should be under the supervision regularly and
investigation of such cases should be done without any political pressure and influence.
There should be strict provisions of the punishment for those peoples who spreading fake
news and hate news.

• Police and judicial reforms - Police and judiciary play important role to stop the crime.
There are so many cases pending in court in our country. Justice should be unbiased and

241
https://bprd.wc.in/writeload data/user files/file/databook2017.pdf
242
https://www.prsindia.org/policy/discussion-paper/police-reforms-India

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according to the due process of law. Similarly in our country police are overburdened and
due to this problem they cannot properly deal with the crime so police reforms and
judiciary reforms are essential to improve criminal justice system.

• To established special and fast track courts- There are so many courts in our country
via. Criminal court, family courts, civil court and labor courts etc. Mob lynching is a
heinous crime so that should be tried in special court and fast track court with special
procedure.

• Speedy trial- "Justice delayed is justice denied" that is a legal rule. It indicates that if an
injured person has a treatment, but it is not provided promptly, it is practically the same
as having no treatment at all. Since a result, in order to overcome this problem, the
investigation should be completed quickly, as many witnesses and victims withdraw or
amend their statements.

• Simple Process- If any case occurred so process to tackle that problem is very
complicated. Sometimes cases are not registered due to the complicated procedure. So
process should be simple to curb that situation.

• To fix the accountability of Nodal officer and police officer- The primary role and
obligation of the nodal officer is to accept complaints and take action to avoid mob
lynchings. He will form a special task team in each district or region to investigate the
infraction, but if he is shown to be irresponsible in carrying out his duties, he will be held
liable for the events. Police who watch at mute will be punished and tried in same manner
as the accused.

• Balanced regional growth- The majority of mob lynchings occur based on caste,
religion, creed, and place of birth, among other factors, and only a small percentage of
the population is affected. Government should take steps for the growth of minority
section and balanced regional growth.

• Safety of witnesses and victims- Safety of witnesses is the main issue because due to
threat maximum witnesses hostile. The responsibility should be develop on the police to

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protect the witnesses and victims not at the time of incidents but after the incidents also.
For their safety lynching must be made a non bailable offence.

• Compensation scheme for victims- Victims and their family is the main sufferer in mob
lynching cases. So there should be a provision of compensation for the victims and their
relatives and ought to be provide free legal aid to them for secure justice.

• Strict punishment- Mob lynching is a extra killing by the mob without following the due
process. So punishment should be strict and must be made a non-bailable and cognizable
offence.

Apart from these suggestions some more responses and suggestion provided from
the peoples.

a. Mob lynching should be treated as a social evil & support from community is required to
address the incidents.

b. The accountability should be fixed of superintendent and nodal officer of the occurrence
place.

c. Changing law is not the solution, rather more emphasis should be laid on education.

d. Indian government as well as state governments both takes the strict action against the
offender.

e. Hang such cruel till death

f. Religion based education and there institutions must be monitored if they spread hatred
against the other religion and their follower, it must be stop strongly.

g. There is need of substantial code for mob lynching but we can't ignore the political
motives behind these cases and govt. should take necessary measures for spreading
awareness for these crime people must aware about the law means what to do and what
not to do.

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h. The administration i.e. police system should be given full authority and potential to use its
power on the spot, but within the limits. Rather than questioning and criticizing it's every
act. Our police system is far better than our perceptions, as we can see in lockdown time.

i, The perception of 'crowd has no face' must be vanished from the mind of people. That's
the only cure.

j. Mob lynching should be declared act of terrorism.

k. Follow one nation one law. State is not fair on this crime.

l. When a Muslim is killed in mob lynching, then Hindu's are questioned, but when a Hindu
killed. Then such a big issue is not created in mob lynching. Find the main reason why
mob lynching occurs and make a law on it.

m. Strong implementation of existing law and formulation of stringent laws are required to
stop these incidents.

n. Special team and officers should be made to deal with the mob lynching.

o. Banned all extremist religious organization like RSS,Bajrangdal and PFI

p. Mob lynching is one of the heinous crimes. No particular reason can only be held
responsible for this crime. Religion and caste are dominant causes but other reasons too
responsible for it, like personal grudges. Making of new law is may be not a great idea
rather amendments in IPC and CrPC will serve the purpose and amendments in these two
laws give the sense of higher culpability to the offenders. Severe punishments should be
added with less stringent procedure. Apart from this, these type of offences are against
humanity and question the very sense of being human so somewhere stress should be
given on imparting moral education to people of every age, not only to school goers.
q. No doubt, the incident of mob lynching is abnormal behavior of Indian society that is
totally sociological and political phenomenon. The influence or domination of the group's
mind or beliefs is demonstrated in mob behaviour like this. The victim of mob lynching is
always either from deprived community means Dalits or from religious minority. How

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many victim of mob lynching from upper caste Hindu that is so called sawarna? Very
few or nothing.

I think communal politics and Brahmanism is root cause of mob lynching in India.
Nowadays in India we see many incident of mob lynching happening on the name of
Gauraksha, child thief, desdrohi, naxal and jamat, jihadi. BJP led Government of India
escalate incident of mob lynching and promote such behavior. There are many minister of
Government of India including Prime minister of India continue delivered hate speech
against a particular community and also award to accused of mob lynchers.So in my view
only law never face and eliminate such evils. Social and political reform with ethical and
moral valuesspreads awareness among people and social harmony and brotherhood will
help to beat mob lynching.

r. Rule of law should be strictly applied without biasness.

s. More than law and order, we need a society that sees by default and by nature that to
harm others is to harm oneself. To love is the only way to be.

t. Hinduism is known for inner engineering experiments as our ashrams were labs on
various perspective altering exercises. We need to bring that culture back or more
practice and less noise.

u. Family, school and University should teach about discipline, respect, equality and moral
values as most of time people involved in mob Lynching are less not lacking basic
education but moral values. Respecting every religion and caste is important and when
people in politics, film industry, media and role models themselves involve in creating
hatred for different communities then common people follow them. It is the responsibility
of idols of common people to show unity and respect for all. Laws are same for criminals
regardless of caste and religion but how much equality is done is major question and that
is what leads to such hatred in different communities and incidents of mob
Lynching.
v. When it comes to mob lynching, there must be zero tolerance.

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w. Individual WhatsApp chats between people should be kept private and should not be
spread. However, if a message creator wants to permit forwarding, the conversation
should be set to public and given a unique ID that can be traced back to the original
originator. When law enforcement authorities make a court-ordered request, WhatsApp
will be able to shut down such a message throughout its network once it has been
reported and the originator identified.
x. The state and central governments must issue radio, television, and internet warnings that
lynching and mob violence will result in significant penalties.

y. Empowering neighborhoodslaw implementation authorities to make a pre-emptive move.

z. There should be proceeded with responsiveness on part of the nearby organization in


managing tension and doubt in neighborhood networks.

za.Create a system to protect examinations of mutual viciousness from political obstruction.

zb.Strengthen the common society Organization. This sustains solidarity.

zc.Re-situate values and conventional standards towards upgrading sympathy, compassion,


and society among individuals.

zd.Find profitable commitment roads for huge jobless or under-utilized young people.

ze.A focused on area explicit methodology is need of great importance as purposes behind
such acts fluctuate generally crosswise over space.

In my opinion there is no single solution to this problem of mob lynching. Some structural
reforms are mandatory, along with region wise action plan need to be prepared with the
243
ground realities, with help of local communities. The dastardly act of lynching has no easy
solution. The responsibility of state legislatures should not to be limited to law providing
strict punishments 244 . State legislatures need to be continuously involved with the issue.

243
https//www.timesofindndia.com
244
www.newsclick.in/new-laws-crime-andpunishment-India

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Their involvement should extend to an in-depth discussion with respect to budgetary
requirements of police and judiciary and a continuous holding to account of the state
administration for every unlawful act of lynching in the state.

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