Rise of new terror group—All India Lynch Mob

As brutal killings of people by mob continue in India, we helplessly watch the dance of death.

Terror has a new name in India--it's the mob--faceless, but omnipresent. It bears no allegiance to any group, religion, ideology or power. (Or does it? We don't know for sure.) It's moving freely and fearlessly amid us, raising its ugly head on a frighteningly regular basis.

Actually, it's one of us. It could be you, me or our next-door neighbour. When a "venom-frothing, revenge-seeking" man/woman joins a group and pretends to deliver justice faster than the speed of light, it turns into the 'great Indian' lynch mob.

So, here justice is one-sided, where the "suspect" gets no chance to tell his/her side of the story. Everything happens in full public view--from trial to execution. During the entire proceeding, often blood-soaked alleged accused are seen lying on a street in broad daylight and pleading mercy in front of a "vigilante group", but to no avail. The verdict has already been pronounced--"beat the culprit to death".

The circus of ongoing murders is being watched "helplessly" by policemen and filmed silently by smartphone cameras.

It's the most convenient form of murder developed by a "rising" India in recent times. Be a part of a crime in the garb of "justice". Moreover, the killers (mostly uncountable) get the licence to walk away scot-free.

A helpless person is brutally killed and there won't be any accountability. The law too has washed its hands of these crimes. The eerie silence of the ruling establishment and judiciary explains how feeble we have become in front of the "mob". This is the democratisation of cold-blooded murder.

From the brutal murder of a high-ranking police officer within a few metres away from the sacred Jama Masjid in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, to the killing of a 16-year-old Muslim boy inside a train in Haryana--the Indian mob is on a prowl like a tiger who has tasted blood--devouring anyone and everyone on its way.

The reason for the crowd to suddenly turn into a mass of murderous monster could be anything.

Mohammed Ayub Pandith, the deputy superintendent for the security wing of the J&K state police, was stoned to death by a mob on Thursday, on suspicion of being a spy. The witnesses to the horrific crime said the officer was disarmed, stripped naked and paraded around the area before being beaten to death with stones.

While a group of people mercilessly killed Pandith, except for a few who tried to save the police officer, rest quietly watched the crime unfolding in front of them.

On the same night, hundreds of kilometers away from Srinagar, in a moving local train in Haryana, teenager Hafiz Junaid and three others were stabbed multi-times by a group of 15-20 odd men.

The incident led to Hafiz's death, while three others were left with serious injuries. They were allegedly attacked after an altercation started between the victims and the group of men over seats. Afterwards, the mob called the victims "beef-eaters" and "anti-nationals" and later stabbed them with knives.

A few days ago, an activist was allegedly lynched to death in Rajasthan's Pratapgarh for objecting to photography of women defecating in open.

Municipality employees in Pratapgarh town beat Zafar Khan to death when he allegedly tried to stop them from scaring women defecating in the open and taking their photographs.

In May, nine people were reportedly lynched by a frenzied mob in separate incidents in Jharkhand. Out of the nine, four died due to brutal beating. The victims were attacked by mob in the BJP-ruled state on suspicion of carrying beef and child-trafficking.

Before Jharkhand's 'dance of death', Pehlu Khan, a dairy farmer from Haryana, was killed by cow vigilantes in Rajasthan on suspicion of cattle smuggling in April. Within days after Khan's death, two Muslim boys in Assam were lynched to death by a mob on suspicion of cattle smuggling, again.

These are just a few instances of mob justice which resulted in the deaths of the suspects. There are as many as nine-odd cases of mob lynching reported from across the country in a span of three months.

The current phase of rise of belligerent mob traces its root to the unfortunate murder of Mohammed Ikhlaq in Dadri, Uttar Pradesh, in 2015. The 52-year-old man was killed for allegedly storing beef in his refrigerator.

A cursory look into these incidents will make you realise that all the murders are strangely connected, in spite of the crimes being taken place in different parts of the country. First, all victims are Muslims.

Second, all the mob lynching cases have been reported from Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states (except for the Dadri lynching in 2015 as UP was then ruled by the Samajwadi Party. In J&K, the BJP, along with the PDP, runs a coalition government ).

Moreover, all the victims share the same dilemma--they are accused of either eating beef or smuggling cow (except for the police officer's murder in Srinagar recently).

Now, the question is who will control the situation, when the politicians, police and judiciary have failed miserably? Or, have we already accepted mob lynching--the medieval form of justice--as the new normal?

OneIndia News