Looking into Lynchings

What is the issue?

• The country is witnessing a series of incidents of lynching and targeted mob violence against vulnerable groups.
• The causes behind and the threats it impose calls for bringing in an anti-lynching law.

How does it affect the vulnerable?

• Violence against those looking overtly Muslim is a noted phenomenon.
• 86% of those killed in lynching incidents in 2017 were Muslims.
• An overwhelming majority of these attacks are bovine related.
• Nevertheless, there are other reasons for anti-minority attacks too.
• Hate violence has also happened around festivals such as Ram Navami provocations over azaan and namaz.
• The victims in cases of lynching are almost entirely from poor families.

Why is the recent trend worrying?

• Small scale - South Asia has a long history of communal violence.
• But these were primarily big episodes of mass violence.
• However, this has now given way to a smaller-scale of conflict, targeted at individuals.
• Rumours - Most of the attacks are based on rumours on cow slaughter or smuggling.
• The rumours circulating on social media often take shape as communal stereotypes.
• Support - The perpetrators are emboldened by the political prioritisation of a crackdown on cow slaughter.
• Moreover, vigilante violence against individuals is being endorsed by state inaction.
• It is possibly an attempt to avoid public scrutiny that accompanies mass violence.
• Communalism - The rising trend is also related to the intensification of communal polarisation.
• There is an increasing instrumentalisation of prejudice for political ends.
• Eventually, these have acquired a certain degree of legitimacy in the public mind.
• Popular anger, outrage and violence have become normal phenomena.
• Threat - Each event of violence has hardened the community boundaries.
• It has widened the divide between Hindus and Muslims.
• Unless checked, it can cause irreversible harm to the social fabric of the Indian society.
• It also impacts the political processes, especially electoral processes and the rule of law.

What are the legal shortfalls?

• Prevention and punishment of the perpetrators of mass violence and/or lynchings is weak.
• The police often stand by, careful not to interfere with the actions of the majority community.
• Both mobs and police have regularly treated victims of cow vigilantism as suspects.
• The law enforcement agencies act mostly against the victims themselves.
• They book them for violating cow protection laws, which act as a legitimate cover.
• As hate crimes grow, the sense of impunity also keeps growing.
• Lack of justice for victims further reinforces the vicious cycle of impunity.

What is the way forward?

• Supreme Court, earlier, directed all State governments to take measures to prevent vigilantism in the name of cow protection.
• However, public lynching or vigilante violence has not subsided.
• Preventing further atrocities requires respect for the rule of law and legal institutions.
• Strong prosecutions and expeditious punishments are essential.
• The recurring incidents of lynching are a call to enact an anti-lynching law.

Source: The Hindu