The horrific lynching incident in Dadri where Mohammad Akhlaq was lynched to death and his son critically injured by a mob of about 200 people following an announcement made by the local temple that his family had slaughtered a calf and stored the meat in their fridge has sent shivers down the spine of all of us.
It may be recalled that just a few months back on March 5, 2015 a similar type of lynching incident had taken place in Dimapur in Nagaland wherein a mob of 7,000 to 8,000 people broke into a prison and dragged Sayed Sarifuddin who was detained under suspicion of rape, which was later on investigation proved to be false. Last year, Hindu Rashtra Sena (HRS) activists had lynched an innocent young man, Mohsin Sadiq Shaikh, 24, at Pune on June 1, when he was on his way to offer prayers at a mosque as a reaction to the derogatory remarks against Shivaji and Thackeray on social media posted by unknown persons.
Such kind of “Mob punishment” was alien to our Indian culture. But off late, ever since this “fascist” government has come to power, such incidences of lynching are being reported regularly, and the government has failed miserably to take action on the perpetrators. Mob punishment is the easiest way for the perpetrators to vent their anger in the name of religion and caste against the minorities and Dalits and go scot free as it becomes impossible for the authorities to arrest individuals from a mob of 100 to 200 or more as it happened in Babri Masjid demolition case. And in all likelihood in Mohammad Aklaq’s case also the perpetrators will escape the justice system due to lack of evidence.
This is sheer travesty of our justice system. While politicians are busy exploiting the situation in Dadri, and television channels are also abuzz with discussions and debates on the incident. Other than the usual blame game, none have discussed passing of communal violence bill, nor discussed the real image of tolerant Hindu religion which for centuries has taken everybody under its fold. While our Prime Minister likes to hit the radio to express his Mann ki baat, this time he has kept Maun (Silence) for the simple reason that what is happening is actually his “Mann ki Baat”.
