Lynchings In Jharkhand, Assam Explicitly Show That Indian Streets Are Ruled By Unruly Mobs
India is changing. So is the behaviour of people towards any individual who they think is not conforming to the norms decided by a mob. An undefined group of people suddenly gather and decide to mercilessly end the life of anyone. Where and what is the reason for doing that? Nobody seems to know, but one thing is for sure, killing, perhaps, has become easy for our senses. We have accepted it, and rarely raise our voice against it. The concern is, where is our nation heading? Why people find it easy to pick up and kill others? And why the authorities have hardly made a move to stop such a nationwide phenomenon?
On June 13, a mob lynched two Muslim men on suspicion of being involved in cattle theft at a village in Jharkhand¡¯s Godda district.
A video circulating on social media shows one of the victims with injury marks on his head, slung over a bamboo pole and being dragged on the ground.
The victims have been identified by cops as Jirafuddin Ansari (35) and Murtaza Miyan (30) from Taljhari village in Godda, about 300km from Ranchi. Godda SP Rajiv Ranjan Singh said, ¡°The victims had previous criminal cases of cattle theft registered against them.¡±
This is the third lynching in the state. In March 2016, two cattle traders were killed and their bodies hanged from a tree in. In June 2017, a beef trader was lynched by a mob comprising largely of gau rakshaks in Ramgarh district. In the Ramgarh lynching, 11 including a local BJP leader were convicted and handed life sentences for murder in the name of cow protection.
On June 8, two young men Nilotpal Das and Abhijeet Nath, were beaten to death in Assam¡¯s Karbi Anglong district. According to reports, rumours about child kidnappers being on the prowl was making rounds on social media and that evening, word spread that the men had a child in their car.
In the video, Das could be heard pleading to the perpetrators to not kill him. ¡°I am an Assamese. Do not kill me¡±, he beseeched.
He had long dreadlock, and perhaps that marked him as ¡®dangerous¡¯, going by the stereotypes.
The mob battered the two men - who had driven to a secluded picnic spot in the area.
In Jharkhand last year, rumours about child snatchers claimed the lives of seven people. Last month, a woman in Tamil Nadu was beaten to death after she offered chocolates to children. The rumours then wound through Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh, leaving a bloody trajectory of violence.
NCRB to publish lynching data
The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) will publish a data on lynching in the Crime in India, 2017 Edition, reported Boomlive.in. This will be the first time the bureau will be publishing the data of this kind.
Going through multiple media reports, 14 cases of mob lynching have led to the death of at least 21 people in the year 2018. Of the 14 cases, 11 were reported to have occurred based on suspicions of child kidnapping, 3 for alleged theft.
Take a look at data compiled by BOOM:
BOOMLIVE.IN
Data compiled by The Quint points to around 99 deaths due to mob lynching since 2015. Indiatimes cannot independently verify these numbers. However, there is no denying that division on the basis of religion, cow vigilantism and rumour mongering have exacerbated killings in the past few years.
An NCRB official was quoted at the time saying, ¡°With so much going on, we thought it would be prudent to collect authentic data on lynching across the country and analyse the reasons that actually lead to murderous behaviour by mobs. This, we hope, will help policymakers come up with cogent solutions for such ghastly incidents. Data is the first step to formation of policy on any subject¡±.
Can government protect minorities from lynching?
Hafiz Junaid. DSP Ayub Pandith. Zafar Khan. Ravindra Kumar. Pehlu Khan. Nilotpal Das. Abhijeet Nath.
The list is exhaustive and seems to be growing every day.
In July 2017, a draft of Maanav Suraksha Kanoon (MASUKA), a new law to address the menace of mob lynching was unveiled at the Constitution Club.
The law is being proposed by the National Campaign Against Mob Lynching ¨C founded by youth leaders Tehseen Poonawalla, Shehla Rashid, Kanhaiya Kumar and Jignesh Mewani ¨C as a response to a spate of lynching incidents that have rattled the nation over the last few years.
The proposed law aims to provide effective protection to vulnerable people, punish acts of lynching, and provide compensation and rehabilitation to kin of victims.
MASUKA proposes investigation into lynching be conducted by senior police officers and mandatory state government compensation within 30 days of incident.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been widely criticised for not speaking up on the spate of hate crimes and lynching of Muslims and Dalits that have gripped the country. He religiously tweets on foreign tragedies, while keeping a studied silence on the murders in his home country.
After #NotInMyName protests gripped the country last year, Modi finally spoke on the spate of lynchings.
Today I want to say a few words and express sadness on some of the things going on: PM @narendramodi
¡ª PMO India (@PMOIndia) June 29, 2017
We are a land of non violence. We are the land of Mahatma Gandhi. Why do we forget that: PM @narendramodi
¡ª PMO India (@PMOIndia) June 29, 2017
No one spoke about protecting cows more than Mahatma Gandhi and Acharya Vinoba Bhave. Yes. It should be done: PM @narendramodi
¡ª PMO India (@PMOIndia) June 29, 2017
As a society, there is no place for violence: PM @narendramodi
¡ª PMO India (@PMOIndia) June 29, 2017
No person in this nation has the right to take the law in his or her own hands in this country: PM @narendramodi
¡ª PMO India (@PMOIndia) June 29, 2017
Violence never has and never will solve any problem: PM @narendramodi
¡ª PMO India (@PMOIndia) June 29, 2017
There have been criticisms that have said that calling India ¡°Lynchistan¡± now is selective as lynchings have happened before with impunity. Silence of the government over such a grave issue is being seen as a part of a script in which the state provides covert and overt nod to the vigilantes carrying out the ideological violence in the national interest.
Can the government ensure that the country¡¯s citizens are protected ¨C irrespective of their religion, caste or community? Where will this monstrosity stop, or will it ever stop? Can the victims¡¯ families be assured of justice? Though arrests have been made in most cases, it is yet unclear if justice has been delivered. The government evokes the name of Gandhi talking non-violence and inclusivity, but can it shelter its people? This is a duty bound by the constitutional duty of the state. The Central Government cannot wash its hand off these rampant killings on the basis that ¡®law and order¡¯ is a State subject, and police will take its action against the accused persons.