The Greek philosopher Diogenes had called a mob the “mother of tyrants” — an expression that sums up the murderous intent of a bunch of people bent on dispensing instant justice.
Islam came to the region with the influx of Muslim Sufis preachers from Central Asia and Persia, beginning the early 14th century and majority of Kashmiris reverted back to monotheistic faith with its principle and headed towards to the glory .
The Accused is Innocent until Proven Guilty :
Islam provided humanity with basic maxim of criminal justice that is
” The Accused is Innocent until Proven Guilty ”
But unfortunately right now though the principle is there but we are degrading our morale by its its reverse application that is ” Untill proven innocent the Accused is guilty ”
Prophet Muhammad (SAW)
Taught us science of criminal justice this way “It is the plaintiff who should provide the evidence, and the oath is obliged on the one that contests.” [Al-Bayhaqi]
In the above narration, RasulAllah (SAW) explained that the burden of proof is on the one making the claim. If he has no proof, yet makes an accusation, then the defendant can make an oath upon his position and in that manner have the accusation rejected by the Judge. This serves as evidence that the defendant is innocent until proven guilty.
Likewise Prophet Muhammad (SAW) added one more maxim.
Avoiding Punishment in the Case of Doubt – One of the principles of the Islamic Judicial System is that it is better to release a guilty person than to punish an innocent person. The Prophet (SAW) said:
“Avert the hudud from Muslims as much as you can. So if there is a way out for him, let him off. For verily, it is better for the Imam to error in pardon than to error in punishment.”[Al-Bayhaqi]
These Maxim are accepted by everyone except us. Adoption of Islamic Maxim by Universal Declaration of Human Rights:-
This maxim laid down by Islam found a place in the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights in 1953 [as article 6, section 2] and was incorporated into the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights [as article 14, section 2].
Articles 3 and 5 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Articles 6 and 7 of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights guarantee individuals the right to life, liberty, dignity and security of person. Inherent in these articles is that no one should be subjected torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
Through the practice of mob justice, victims are denied a fundamental right to a fair trial. Article 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights stipulates about the right to fair trial. Also article 11 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights specified about the right to stand innocent of a crime before being proved guilty. Sometimes mob justice deprives the victims’ rights to live.
ADOPTION OF THIS PROPHETIC MAXIM BY INDIA : –
The constitution of India has clearly states in Article 21 that “no person shall be deprived of his or her personal liberty except according to procedure established by law”.
Mob justice which our society on whole is portraying is a spontaneous process of dispensing punishment or justice to those the community deems to have deserved such punishment. It is process by which a small group of individuals abrogate to themselves the power to dispense justice, discipline and correct on behalf of the justice system. Mob justice thrives on spontaneity and emotive reaction to either criminality or offences against the society.
The genesis of mob justice world over is broken and corrupt systems. But mob justice is not the way to go when solving crime.
My experience on the ground tells me that mob justice does more harm than good in the community.
Mob justice may be categorized as a vice in society because it is barbaric in nature; the violence associated with mob justice is usually of goring in nature. To engage in mob justice is to condone barbarism in society. It is also archaic, primitive and outdated; it betrays modernity and reverses the achievements of civilization.
It betrays the basic principle of law that declares everyone innocent until proven guilty. Instead it victimizes without recourse. It allows any one person to execute accusatory doubt on people you do not like; it therefore erroneously punishes the innocent. It does not do what law is supposed to do; correct and punish, instead it terminates life, and thus it is a non-corrective terminal measure.
Through its revolting and disgusting manner, it usually leads to moral nausea; it traumatizes the victim, if he doesn’t die the participants and social spectators. It also upsets the social equilibrium and tranquility, because after every incident of mob justice fear and panic arise in the community.
DYNAMICS OF MOB JUSTICE AND ITS REMEDIES :
1) CHECK BEFORE YOU FORWARD THE NEWS :
Technology at our fingertips means we often forward at the click of a button, rarely checking if that forward is true or a silly hoax. The more dangerous it sounds, the faster we forward it.
We often seek rights but we forget our responsibilities it’s responsibility of citizen to check the news before forwarding it –
2) RESPONSIBLITY OF GOVERNMENT AND LAW AND ORDER AGENCIES :
One cannot entirely blame the public for the upsurge in mob violence without taking a critical look at the justice delivery system. Mistrust and lack of confidence in the judicial system are some of the reasons the public indulge in mob justice. An enormous increase in mob justice is directly proportionate to the increase crime rate and backlog of cases in the courts. Various crime associated factors like custodial disappearance fake encounters, denial of basic human rights, limited political freedom to express dissension in the state are leading to upsurge of mob justice in our society. This is so because when people feel insecure because of injustice and unwillingness of political disputes according to wishes and aspiration of common people they will defend and protect themselves by resorting to violent acts of instant justice. Here people’s ignorance of the law could also implicate them in mob violence.
3) GOVT FAILURE AND OPPOSITION MOCKERY:
When chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir was enjoying melodious songs of Adnan Sami on the Bank of Dal lake 100th case of braid chopping was already registered in police files and scores of innocent were rescued by timely intervention of police finally she woke up next morning and wrote line condemning braid chopping
Instead of bringing some solace to nation politician as usual failed the nation. PDP MLC Yasir Reshi held National Conference (NC) responsible for braid chopping incidents in Kashmir, the NC legislator from Habba Kadal constituency, Shameema Firdous later said that the PDP leader was mentally ill and he needed treatment.
“I believe the statement made by the PPD leader is his frustration. He needs treatment at the earliest,”
In response to Nayeem Akhtar’s statement on braid chopper Er Rashid replied to him in his unique style, instead you pass the buck by trying to put whole blame on masses. I know you don’t have a magic with you but your agencies are not doing enough to find the truth. God and your Govt only know why every suspected braid chopper is claimed to be mentally retarded. If security forces claim to have eliminated militants every day and expose bigger conspiracies why can’t they identify even a single braid chopper sir? Isn’t it a fact that braid chopping incidents first started in north India including Jammu city and one has every reason to believe that those were just mock drills and real story has been started in Kashmir. Rest people are doing their best to deal with miscreants and they are not only in Kashmir but everywhere in world. With regards, Er. Rasheed
4 ) Draconian Laws in J&K:
Over many decades entire state is marked by a culture of impunity and lawlessness. Armed forces are empowered under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958 to shoot, arrest, and destroy properties on mere suspicion without following the due process of law or rule of law. AFSPA has resulted in fake encounters, rapes, torture, extra-judicial killings and disappearances be in Kashmir or in Manipur for which even Supreme Court of India seems to worried
Salt to wounds : Earlier, reports had said that the police was planning to conduct polygraph tests on the victims that further instigate the public and created mistrust and lack of confidence in the judicial system
Kashmir police chief ruled out the lie-detector or polygraph testing of the braid-chopping victims in the Valley that instantly relieved the victim and public at large
Inspector General of Police (IGP)said scientific examination of the victims would be conducted.
5) Vigilantism and Mob Justice Are Glorified by Bollywood and That Is a Big Problem : –
To advocate taking a life without fair trial, or by those who are not a legal authority, is by definition vigilantism. Whether the justification is for social or criminal justice as seen in the film, or for religious reasons as seen by the recent rise in attacks on Muslim and Dalit minorities in India, vigilantism turns democracies into mobocracies. Other action-entertainment movies like Special 26and Gabbar is Back, both of which star Akshay Kumar, involve his character running a fake CBI network that raids corrupt officials in the first and a vigilante military network that kills corrupt officials in the second.
Kashmir On the edge of anarchy and morale degradation:-
Putting a nation of over a 14 million people of Kashmir to shame, yet another case of mob justice hit the headlines
“Angry citizens round up the alleged wrongdoer in Sopore who happened to mentally unstable after being tied up and put him on fire and then tried to burn him alive.
Another victim who came to pray in Dargah Hazratbal was drowned in Dal lake .
One must understand that violence never has and never will solve any problem and no person has the right to take law in his or her own hands. No society must allow mob to rule over law and order in state.
The dystopian future of a society bereft of reason and dominated by passion is hauntingly close unless the rule of law assumes primacy. The core values of humanity are at stake now.
Finally, Kashmiris must find inspiration in the great souls who have walked this land. Compassion, tolerance, peace, and brotherhood have been integral to the Kashmiri way of life.
There is need to aware people about repercussions of mob justice in masajid , educational hubs and public parks and no matter what what we have to let and local administration to take it’s due course to find out the culprit and we must admit that Even Mohalla committees are not capable enough to give justice as suggested wrongly by Hurriyat leaders which will lead to more anarchy but of course they can they can be a part of investigation. let’s not give any excuse to state to say that public became the hurdle in cracking the case .
Zainulabideen, Student at Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir and can be mailed at Zainlala69@yahoo.com
