Year : 2019, Volume : 23, Issue : 4
First page : ( 152) Last page : ( 172)
Print ISSN : 0971-8052. Online ISSN : 0974-0937. Published online : 2019  01.

Mob violence and vigilantism in India

Gupta Ishan

Abstract

In recent years, India has witnessed an escalation in mob lynchings targeting minority communities, primarily Muslims and Dalits. While acknowledging the unique circumstances of various cases of mob violence, this research article analyses the general pattern observed in such crimes and the need for a codified law defining mob lynching and the punishment for it. It then presents a comparative analysis of the recent incidents of mob violence in India and the lynching of African-Americans in the US during the post-Civil War era of the late nineteenth-early twentieth centuries. Despite the vast difference between the two societies, it demonstrates the similarities in mob mentality behind lynching, particularly in objectives and methods. An important aspect of these crimes today is the role of social media and messaging platforms that are used strategically for the dissemination of false information to spread hatred against a community or an individual.

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