Lynching due to rising ‘intolerance’: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Tuesday blamed the frequent instances of lynching being reported from different parts of the country on the rising “intolerance and polarisation”, and urged the Parliament to enact a fresh law to instil fear of law among those who take matters into their own hands. The top court also directed states to ensure that FIRs are registered immediately, time-bound trials within six months, interim compensation in 30 days in all such instances. All states were asked to draw up compensation schemes for next to kin of those lynched within a month.

“Lynching is an affront to the rule of law and to the exalted values of the Constitution itself…. lynching by unruly mobs and barbaric violence arising out of incitement and instigation cannot be allowed to become the order of the day,” the court said. Such vigilantism, be it for whatever purpose or borne out of whatever cause, has the effect of undermining the legal and formal institutions of the state and altering the constitutional order, a three -judge bench, led by CJI Dipak Misra, said.

“Rising intolerance and growing polarisation expressed through a spate of incidents of mob violence cannot be permitted to become the normal way of life…,” it said. “Hate crimes as a product of intolerance, ideological dominance and prejudice ought not to be tolerated... Extra judicial elements and non-state actors cannot be allowed to take the place of law...” “These extrajudicial attempts under the guise of protection of the law have to be nipped in the bud.”