Opinion - Letters to the Editor

Mob violence

Barely a month ago, a petty thief in Bhagalpur, Bihar, was beaten black and blue by a mob, and tied to a motorbike and dragged by policemen. Now comes the gory report that 10 persons, suspected to be thieves, were lynched by villagers in the Vaishali district of the State. If the people’s tendency to take the law into their own hands stating police inaction is to be curbed, the police need to be more alert and proactive and instil faith in the people.

N. Radha Krishnan,

Chennai

That three young men were blinded by a mob for snatching a motorcycle from a person at gunpoint in Nawada on Tuesday shows mob justice in Bihar knows no bounds. Are we living in a civilised society?

R. Ramadurai,

Kumbakonam

It is not as if mob fury has never existed. But, of late, we are getting to see its ugliest form. The frequency with which the people are taking the law into their own hands is frightening. Democracy is silently but surely making way for mobocracy. Mob fury assumes a monster-like proportion that is almost beyond control. What is disturbing is its capricious nature, since it takes very little to spark it.

Be it rage over a petty crime, statue desecration, eve-teasing, or disagreeable depiction of gods and goddesses, the mob suddenly takes on an unrecognisable shape out of nowhere. Democracy is meant to give power to the people, but if the power is used to bypass the lawful course of justice, the very principle of democracy stands shattered.

Md. Ziyaullah Khan,

Pune

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