Guidelines on Mob Lynching issued by Apex Court of India

Supreme Court of India

Tehseen S. Poonawalla vs Union Of India on 17 July, 2018

Author: D Misra

REPORTABLE

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION

WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO. 754 OF 2016

Tehseen S. Poonawalla ...Petitioner(s)

Versus

Union of India and others ...Respondent(s)

WITH

WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) N0. 764 OF 2016

WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) N0. 768 OF 2016

WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) N0. 732 OF 2017

WRIT PETITION (CRIMINAL) NO. 122 OF 2017

JUDGMENT

40. In view of the aforesaid, we proceed to issue the following guidelines:-

A. Preventive Measures

(i) The State Governments shall designate, a senior police

officer, not below the rank of Superintendent of Police, as Nodal Officer in each district. Such Nodal

Officer shall be assisted by one of the DSP rank officers in the district for taking measures to prevent

incidents of mob violence and lynching. They shall constitute a special task force so as to procure

intelligence reports about the people who are likely to commit such crimes or who are involved in

spreading hate speeches, provocative statements and fake news.

(ii) The State Governments shall forthwith identify Districts, Sub-Divisions and/or Villages where

instances of lynching and mob violence have been reported in the recent past, say, in the last five

years. The process of identification should be done within a period of three weeks from the date of

this judgment, as such time period is sufficient to get the task done in today's fast world of data

collection.

(iii) The Secretary, Home Department of the concerned States shall issue directives/advisories to the

Nodal Officers of the concerned districts for ensuring that the Officer In-charge of the Police

Stations of the identified areas are extra cautious if any instance of mob violence within their

jurisdiction comes to their notice.

(iv) The Nodal Officer, so designated, shall hold regular meetings (at least once a month) with the

local intelligence units in the district along with all Station House Officers of the district so as to

identify the existence of the tendencies of vigilantism, mob violence or lynching in the district and

take steps to prohibit instances of dissemination of offensive material through different social media

platforms or any other means for inciting such tendencies. The Nodal Officer shall also make efforts

to eradicate hostile environment against any community or caste which is targeted in such incidents.

(v) The Director General of Police/the Secretary, Home Department of the concerned States shall

take regular review meetings (at least once a quarter) with all the Nodal Officers and State Police

Intelligence heads. The Nodal Officers shall bring to the notice of the DGP any inter-district

co-ordination issues for devising a strategy to tackle lynching and mob violence related issues at the

State level.

(vi) It shall be the duty of every police officer to cause a mob to disperse, by exercising his power

under Section 129 of CrPC, which, in his opinion, has a tendency to cause violence or wreak the

havoc of lynching in the disguise of vigilantism or otherwise.

(vii) The Home Department of the Government of India must take initiative and work in

co-ordination with the State Governments for sensitising the law enforcement agencies and by

involving all the stake holders to identify the measures for prevention of mob violence and lynching

against any caste or community and to implement the constitutional goal of social justice and the

Rule of Law.

(viii) The Director General of Police shall issue a circular to the Superintendents of Police with

regard to police patrolling in the sensitive areas keeping in view the incidents of the past and the

intelligence obtained by the office of the Director General. It singularly means that there should be

seriousness in patrolling so that the anti-social elements involved in such crimes are discouraged

and remain within the boundaries of law thus fearing to even think of taking the law into their own

hands.

(ix) The Central and the State Governments should broadcast on radio and television and other

media platforms including the official websites of the Home Department and Police of the States

that lynching and mob violence of any kind shall invite serious consequence under the law.

(x) It shall be the duty of the Central Government as well as the State Governments to take steps to

curb and stop dissemination of irresponsible and explosive messages, videos and other material on

various social media platforms which have a tendency to incite mob violence and lynching of any

kind.

(xi) The police shall cause to register FIR under Section 153A of IPC and/or other relevant

provisions of law against persons who disseminate irresponsible and explosive messages and videos

having content which is likely to incite mob violence and lynching of any kind.

(xii) The Central Government shall also issue appropriate directions/advisories to the State

Governments which would reflect the gravity and seriousness of the situation and the measures to

be taken.

B. Remedial Measures

(i) Despite the preventive measures taken by the State Police, if

it comes to the notice of the local police that an incident of lynching or mob violence has taken place,

the jurisdictional police station shall immediately cause to lodge an FIR, without any undue delay,

under the relevant provisions of IPC and/or other provisions of law.

(ii) It shall be the duty of the Station House Officer, in whose police station such FIR is registered, to

forthwith intimate the Nodal Officer in the district who shall, in turn, ensure that there is no further

harassment of the family members of the victim(s).

(iii) Investigation in such offences shall be personally monitored by the Nodal Officer who shall be

duty bound to ensure that the investigation is carried out effectively and the charge-sheet in such

cases is filed within the statutory period from the date of registration of the FIR or arrest of the

accused, as the case may be.

(iv) The State Governments shall prepare a lynching/mob violence victim compensation scheme in

the light of the provisions of Section 357A of CrPC within one month from the date of this judgment.

In the said scheme for computation of compensation, the State Governments shall give due regard

to the nature of bodily injury, psychological injury and loss of earnings including loss of

opportunities of employment and education and expenses incurred on account of legal and medical

expenses. The said compensation scheme must also have a provision for interim relief to be paid to

the victim(s) or to the next of kin of the deceased within a period of thirty days of the incident of

mob violence/lynching.

(v) The cases of lynching and mob violence shall be specifically tried by designated court/Fast Track

Courts earmarked for that purpose in each district. Such courts shall hold trial of the case on a day

to day basis. The trial shall preferably be concluded within six months from the date of taking

cognizance. We may hasten to add that this direction shall apply to even pending cases. The District

Judge shall assign those cases as far as possible to one jurisdictional court so as to ensure

expeditious disposal thereof. It shall be the duty of the State Governments and the Nodal Officers in

particular to see that the prosecuting agency strictly carries out its role in appropriate furtherance of

the trial.

(vi) To set a stern example in cases of mob violence and lynching, upon conviction of the accused

person(s), the trial court must ordinarily award maximum sentence as provided for various offences

under the provisions of the IPC.

(vii) The courts trying the cases of mob violence and lynching may, on application by a witness or by

the public prosecutor in relation to such witness or on its own motion, take such measures, as it

deems fit, for protection and for concealing the identity and address of the witness.

(viii) The victim(s) or the next of kin of the deceased in cases of mob violence and lynching shall be

given timely notice of any court proceedings and he/she shall be entitled to be heard at the trial in

respect of applications such as bail, discharge, release and parole filed by the accused persons. They

shall also have the right to file written submissions on conviction, acquittal or sentencing.

(ix) The victim(s) or the next of kin of the deceased in cases of mob violence and lynching shall

receive free legal aid if he or she so chooses and engage any advocate of his/her choice from amongst

those enrolled in the legal aid panel under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987.

C. Punitive Measures

(i) Wherever it is found that a police officer or an officer of the

district administration has failed to comply with the aforesaid directions in order to prevent and/or

investigate and/or facilitate expeditious trial of any crime of mob violence and lynching, the same

shall be considered as an act of deliberate negligence and/or misconduct for which appropriate

action must be taken against him/her and not limited to departmental action under the service

rules. The departmental action shall be taken to its logical conclusion preferably within six months

by the authority of the first instance.

(ii) In terms of the ruling of this Court in Arumugam Servai v. State of Tamil Nadu 21 , the States are

directed to take disciplinary action against the concerned officials if it is found that (i) such

official(s) did not prevent the incident, despite having prior knowledge of it, or (ii) where the

incident has already occurred, such official(s) did not promptly apprehend and institute criminal

proceedings against the culprits.

41. The measures that are directed to be taken have to be carried out within four weeks by the

Central and the State Governments.

Section 129 in The Code Of Criminal Procedure, 1973

129. Dispersal of assembly by use of civil force.

(1) Any executive Magistrate or officer in charge of a police station or, in the absence of such officer in charge, any police officer, not below the rank of a sub- inspector, may command any unlawful assembly, or any assembly of five or more persons likely to cause a disturbance of the public peace, to disperse; and it shall thereupon be the duty of the members of such assembly to disperse accordingly.

(2) If, upon being so commanded, any such assembly does not disperse, or if, without being so commanded, it conducts itself in such a manner as to show a determination not to disperse, any Executive Magistrate or police officer referred to in sub- section (1), may proceed to disperse such assembly by force, and may require the assistance of any male person, not being an officer or member of the armed forces and acting as such, for the purpose of dispersing such assembly, and, if necessary, arresting and confining the persons who form part of it, in order to disperse such assembly or that they may be punished according to law.

Section 153A in The Indian Penal Code

¹⁵⁷ [153A. Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony.—

(1) Whoever—

(a) by words, either spoken or written, or by signs or by visible representations or otherwise, promotes or attempts to promote, on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, caste or community or any other ground whatsoever, disharmony or feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will between different reli­gious, racial, language or regional groups or castes or communi­ties, or

(b) commits any act which is prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony between different religious, racial, language or regional groups or castes or communities, and which disturbs or is likely to disturb the public tranquillity, 2[or]

 2[(c) organizes any exercise, movement, drill or other similar activity intending that the participants in such activity shall use or be trained to use criminal force or violence or knowing it to be likely that the participants in such activity will use or be trained to use criminal force or violence, or participates in such activity intending to use or be trained to use criminal force or violence or knowing it to be likely that the partici­pants in such activity will use or be trained to use criminal force or violence, against any religious, racial, language or regional group or caste or community and such activity for any reason whatsoever causes or is likely to cause fear or alarm or a feeling of insecurity amongst members of such religious, racial, language or regional group or caste or community,] shall be punished with imprisonment which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both. Offence committed in place of worship, etc.—

(2) Whoever commits an offence specified in sub-section (1) in any place of worship or in any assembly engaged in the performance of religious wor­ship or religious ceremonies, shall be punished with imprisonment which may extend to five years and shall also be liable to fine.]