Stripping and killing of man in Karnataka shows mob violence can't be treated as normal crime
In a chilling case of mob violence reported from Karnataka's Yadgiri district, a man was stripped, tied to a tree and beaten to death for his alleged relationship with a married woman.
The crime, reportedly executed by the woman's husband and his friends, is a classic case of how mob mentality is setting India back by hundreds of years, dragging us to our primal selves — to being a species who knew nothing about law and order, forget following or respecting it.
That this has happened in 21st century India must not only leave us enraged but also compel us to demand deterrents stringent enough to ensure this Taliban-style instant justice is never meted out to anyone, no matter what the offence or circumstance is.
Reports suggest that the woman was rushed to a hospital after she too was tied to a tree and brutally assaulted. That two consenting adults have a right to decide about what equation develops between them is a debate well-settled. That no violence should be used in case egos are bruised and battered when faced with rejection is also well-established. What we perhaps need are stricter laws to ensure people are not able to hide behind the convenience of anonymity that mobs provide while unleashing their basest and ugliest selves, lynching people and participating in a bloodbath of the crudest kind.
Mob violence is a horrendous offence. Powered by the strength of a few blood-thirsty lumpen citizens, some of whom don't even believe in the motive (not that violence really has any justifiable cause), beating someone up only to draw a sense of power from the act is well-orchestrated madness.
This year began with ugly images of a mob of men molesting, assaulting and heckling women out on MG Road in Bangalore to welcome the new year. No arrests were made in the case because of the lack of evidence.
In October, a Nigerian man was tied to a post and thrashed in Delhi's Malviya Nagar by a mob that suspected him of being a thief. The incident came to light when a video of this crime surfaced on social media.
Participants of mob violence know it is difficult to get caught. The ubiquitous CCTV cameras in cities do not always provide images clear enough to go after the perpetrators. In our villages and hinterlands, they do not exist.
They are aided by the state machinery that is both inefficient and lethargic. Mobs here can be at their emboldened best.
It is for this reason that we must call out the participants of mob violence. In this day and age of social media, it is not difficult to identify culprits of such crimes, especially when the photos and videos of the act go viral. Those who can identify them must come forward and help investigators.
As the strength of the mob grows, the vulnerability of the victim rises. It is chilling to even imagine a scenario in which one is caught by such a mob.
Mobs do not have names and therein lies their actual strength. People participating in mob violence are cowards who hide behind the identity of the group while they carry out the crime. Being faceless makes them fearless because they know their chances of being caught, let alone punished, are low.
Laws must change to ensure our rules of civil existence are not thrown to the wind.
While all murders are brutal and every life lost is precious, mob violence also murders democratic principles and robs the country of its civilisational values. This applies to all kinds and forms of mob lynching: those carried out because of religious fundamentalism, as part of honour crimes or merely to settle personal scores.
Mobs are not hiding just the perpetrators of violence behind them. They hide a lot more. Racism, sexism, misogyny, religious fundamentalism and many such threats to the idea of India are lurking behind the anonymity. They must be called out for what they are - an anarchic, murderous bunch of people who mock society's order as they unleash violence in the name of ready justice.