Two persons, including a station house officer, were shot dead in mob violence in the Bulandshahr village of Uttar Pradesh.
What was the problem?
A group of villagers gathered outside a police post in protests over a rumour that cow carcasses had been found in forests close to the police post.
The protest rapidly turned into an uncontrollable mob violence.
A local man was killed in an hour of violence provoked by allegations of cow slaughter.
The Station House Officer of that area reportedly tried to control the erupted violence in the village.
However, he lost his life to the bullets fired in the mob violence.
The mob that allegedly killed him took away his service gun and mobile phone as well.
They also burned down a police station and set fire to several vehicles.
What are the concerns?
The violence is yet another notice of the toll being taken on civic order on account of the failure to crack down on vigilante mobs.
Many state governments have moved to tighten laws prohibiting cow slaughter in recent years.
Along with that, bands of cow-protection vigilantes have created an atmosphere of fear among the people.
They purportedly act on suspicion of cow slaughter to round up and lynch cattle traders at will.
The hurt sentiments of gau rakshaks motivates hate crime against those who are rumoured to have slaughtered cows.
Some of the earlier lynchings have been initially projected as an outcome of road rage and not because of cow vigilantism.
What should be done?
Probes into the killing, in most cases, move in parallel with investigations into the allegations of cow slaughter or the possession of beef.
A special investigation team has been formed to probe the violence in the recent case.
Investigations should reveal whether the mob at the police post formed organically, or whether there was a conspiracy to set up a communally polarising confrontation.
No rumour or act of cow slaughter justifies mob violence and hence the state should ensure that no impunity is provided to the perpetrators of cow vigilantism in the future.
