Mob violence is emerging as a serious law and order problem and has become a new normal in India. Examine the challenges in dealing with such violence and suggest measures to curtail it. (200 words)
Refer – The Hindu
Enrich the answer from other sources, if the question demands.
IAS Parliament 6 years
KEY POINTS
Challenges
· Technological – Most of the attacks are based on rumours on cow slaughter or kidnapping.
· The use of social media, especially Whatsapp groups and forwards, to spread fear and panic remains a major challenge.
· Responses such as surveillance and Internet shutdowns are not just impossible but also inadvisable in a free society.
· Small scale – South Asia has a long history of communal violence. But these were primarily big episodes of mass violence.
· But, the recent incidents of lynching and mob violence are targeted at individuals.
· Support – The perpetrators are emboldened by the political prioritisation of a crackdown on cow slaughter.
· New normal – Eventually, these have acquired a certain degree of legitimacy in the public mind.
· Popular anger, outrage and violence have become a normal phenomena.
Suggestions
· Preventing further atrocities requires respect for the rule of law and legal institutions.
· Strong prosecutions and expeditious punishments are essential.
· The recurring incidents of lynching are a call to enact an anti-lynching law.
· Administration needs to reach out to local communities to keep them in the loop in order to check trouble-makers.
· This conveys sufficient good faith, so that individuals will trust it to keep the peace and filter the real threats from mischievous rumours.
