Mob Lynching, Hate Speech and their Implications in India

Mob Lynching is an action by group of violent people which takes life of another person without any authority or legal sanction. It amounts to extrajudicial sentence like public hanging to take revenge or to teach a lesson to a suspected offender. It is also defined as vigilantism in which a group of self appointed people takes law in their hands to enforce having no legal authority. Today lynching has become a new normal in India. Mob Lynching is a clear violation of rule of law and basic human right of ‘right to life.’ The central reality in India is the abuse of law. The participation of people as a racialized group with extra-legal punitive power of death and how it catalyzes the rise of mobocracy, affecting the individual right of the person by their ostensible judgement, conclusively is an ambush on democracy. The research article looks at the concept of mob lynching, its causes, judicial standpoint together with its impacts in the society. The relation of hate speech and mob violence is also taken into account. Indian laws and International laws are studied in the context.