Open Season for Lynching – By Abhishek Kumar

Lynchings in the name of cow protection have become a common phenomenon across India, particularly since 2014, with the incumbent government providing its tacit support to such incidents. These lynchings are not stray incidents of mob violence motivated by a “love of cows,” but are calculated statements aimed at instilling fear and asserting caste or religious supremacy.

Lynching acts as a tool to uphold the caste hierarchy, and as a warning towards minorities trying to improve their station in life, an act which is viewed as a “caste offence.” It can thus be viewed as a pushback from the majority against minorities, which have been progressively seeking their rights and upward mobility.…

The current phenomenon of lynching is much more than a mere breakdown of law and order; it is a worrying manifestation of a deep fissure in society along caste and religious lines. The complicity of the police and political representatives further reveals that our legal system, though facially neutral, remains similarly afflicted by this division, which is reflected in its dispensation towards the dominant, majority group. While the recommendations in the Poonawalla judgment are a step in the right direction, the Supreme Court’s failure to recognise the context in which the current spate of lynchings are occurring leads to the conclusion that far more is required to be done in order to assure minorities of their rights.…

https://www.epw.in/journal/2019/9/letters/open-season-lynching.html

SEE ALSO:

• Victims of Communal Violence and Mob Lynching in Bihar – By Karwan e Mohabbat (Mar 1, 2019, Indian Cultural Forum)
  https://indianculturalforum.in/2019/03/01/karwan-e-mohobbat-bihar/