Condemning the lynching incidents in the country, the Supreme Court came down heavily on the central and state governments on Tuesday and put the onus of reigning mobs on them. It also asked the Parliament to consider framing the anti-lynching laws. “It is duty of state to ensure rule of law is preserved,” the top court said.
Ruling that ‘Mobocracy’ cannot be allowed in a democracy the court said “horrendous acts of mobocracy cannot be allowed to become new norm and has to be curbed with iron hands.” The court’s order came while hearing a batch of petitions including one by social activist Tehseen S. Poonawalla and Tushar Gandhi, great grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, seeking to curb violence by cow vigilante groups.
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“No citizen can take law into their own hands. In case of fear and anarchy, the state has to act positively. Violence can’t be allowed,” the apex court stated. The court asked the central and state governments to implement measures to curb mob-lynching within four weeks.
A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, had earlier reserved their order and reminded the Central and state governments of their responsibility to curb violence by vigilante groups. At that time the court said that whether lynching is due to cow vigilantism or because people think that a person is a child abductor, it is a crime.
It had said that it was the obligation of the state that crimes involving vigilante groups are prevented, and self-appointed vigilantes can’t be allowed to take law in their hands.
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