The Supreme Court (SC) on July 17 while condemning the recent incidents of mob lynching across the country asked the Parliament to create the new law against lynching. It also terms lynching as “horrendous acts of mobocracy”.
A three-judge SC Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra stated that mobocracy can’t be allowed and has asked the Centre and States to file a compliance report on the issue within the next four weeks.
Bench stated, “No citizen can take law into their hands. In case of fear and anarchy, the state has to act positively. Violence can’t be allowed”.
CJI Misra remarked, “The State is duty-bound to ensure law and order and to prevent mobocracy”.
The court added that this special law should be effective enough to initiate a sense of fear in the perpetrators.
Supreme Court fixed the matter for further hearing on August 28.
The petitions were filed by social activist Tehseen Poonawalla and Thushar Gandhi, who prayed to the SC to initiate contempt against states that failed to take measures to combat cow vigilantism.
In September 2017, the SC directed all the state governments and union territories to take steps to put an end to the violence in the name of cow protection and asked both of them to designate special officers who would keep a strong vigil on the ‘vigilante groups’.
