Font size: 
The incident was reported in the media throughout the country and was discussed in the Indian Parliament. The politicians made use of the opportunity to sling dirt at each other. The public expressed shock. The police officer responsible for the incident was suspended immediately. Everyone unanimously opined that such things are not surprising given the state of affairs in Bihar, a state in northern India notorious for its lawlessness. The matter is now closed.
Mob justice is not an exclusive phenomenon attributed to Bihar, however, although it is reported in alarming numbers from that state. Victims in some 25 cases in the past 12 months, in fact, were killed. Yet if anyone thinks Bihar is an exceptional case I believe this does not reflect reality in India today. In August 2004, for instance, the suspect in a rape case in Mumbai was seized by a group of women when he was brought to court and lynched to death. The women were later taken into custody for killing the suspect.
Mob justice is a common phenomenon across the country in which a suspect, if caught by the local populace, is often "softened" before being handed to the police. The police further torture the person to extract a confession, and the entire investigation of the case is based upon this forced confession. Cases brought to court based on evidence gathered following a forced confession by torture stand little chance of succeeding during a trial, and thus, the result is an acquittal of the accused. Given the socio-economic conditions in India, the chance of an acquitted person being caught while committing yet another crime is very high. Additionally, there is an enormous delay, often for periods of six to seven years or even a decade, for the courts to complete a trial.
The net result is the loss of the perception of justice in the mind of the public. Consequently, in this context, it is natural at this juncture for the public to take the law into their own hands and render instant justice upon anyone whom they suspect of a crime.
Physical violence committed upon a person is equally traumatic for the witness as well as the victim. Psychological trauma, if mapped on a scale from one to 10 and if the victim of physical violence suffers mental trauma at point 10, the witness to the incident, including the assaulter, suffers from metal trauma at point nine.
For both categories of people--the victim and the witnesses--a single incident is a traumatic experience whose effects last throughout their lifetime. This is because the average human mind is not equipped to withstand a high degree of psychological violence. Consequently, in incidents of mob justice, the number of people who are exposed to severe psychological trauma is very high. If not overgeneralizing or exaggerating, an increase in mob justice in any country means there are more people suffering from psychological trauma in that country. Given the high number of incidents of mob justice in India, hundreds of Indians today suffer from psychological trauma associated with partaking in the incident or by witnessing it.
Incidents of mob justice, in addition to being a shocking indicator of the psychological mindset of a society, also suggests a failed justice delivery mechanism and the loss of faith of the people in their justice system. If an alarming number of incidents of mob justice is reported from a particular region or country, it strongly suggests that there is something terribly wrong in the societal framework and its justice delivery mechanisms.
It is an inherent part of human nature to instantaneously decide what is good and evil. However, it is not by nature a primordial human trait to decide what punishment is just for a crime and what is not. It is because of this human shortcoming and because of a number of other reasons, like maintaining order, that human society, irrespective of race, ethnicity and region, has evolved various forms of mechanisms for rendering justice throughout history.
When an offense is alleged against a person, irrespective of time and region, there were, and are, mechanisms that decided the punishment, however just or unjust the punishment may be. The societies that practiced mob justice lacked order, and the perception of justice was reduced to a very minimal level of an eye for an eye. It appears that India is unfortunately headed toward turning the whole of India blind.
--
(Bijo Francis is a human rights lawyer currently working with the Asian Legal Resource Center in Hong Kong. He is responsible for the South Asia desk at the center. Mr. Francis has practiced law for more than a decade and holds an advanced master's degree in human rights law.)
