New Delhi: India’s Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday said violence in the name of cow vigilantism was not acceptable and it was for the various states to prevent such incidents in the country.
“This is a law and order issue and each state has to be responsible. These kind of incidents cannot occur. It cannot be accepted in remotest sense. It is obligation of the states to ensure that such incidents do not occur,” a bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud said.
The court was reacting to the contempt petition filed by activist Tushar Gandhi, great grandson of father of the Indian nation Mahatma Gandhi.
“Whether a lynching happens as a result of cow vigilantism or because people believe someone is a child abductor, it does not matter — lynching is a crime, period,” the court said.
The top court reserved its verdict on pleas seeking directions to formulate guidelines to curb such violence.
“Who will stop cow vigilantes? Some mechanism has to be there to prevent violence indulged in by these groups. This must stop. Some kind of planned and well-coordinated action is required by the governments so that vigilantism does not grow,” the bench observed.
The court also warned against linking mob violence to religion and said “a victim is a victim”.
The court said nobody could be allowed to take law into their own hands.
“This is crime. This is actually mob violence. Nobody can take law into their own hands and nobody can wash off their hands from their duty,” the bench said.
The chief justice also asked for compliance reports from all 29 states and seven Union Territories (UTs) in this regard.
In September last year, the court had directed all states and UTs to take steps to prevent violence in the name of cow protection.
Appearing for Gandhi, senior advocate Indira Jaising said the state governments of Uttar Pradesh (UP), Rajasthan and Haryana failed to comply with court’s last year order.
“There have been several rulings in the past where compensation is made mandatory to the victims of such crimes. But the families of those killed in the name of cow protection are yet to receive any such compensation from the state. So the court should come up with a policy on this,” she pointed out.
Jaisingh sought contempt action for state governments not following the top court’s order.
Additional Solicitor General P.S. Narasimha told the court that the central government was trying its best to deal with the situation.
“The Centre is alive to the situation and trying hard to deal with it. Our main concern is maintaining law and order in the country,” he said.
Last week, a 45-year-old Muslim trader was beaten to death and another injured over rumours of cow slaughter in Hapur district of UP.
