Vigilantism is never the answer. Curb it

There is a growing tendency of some officials and a section of the citizenry to demand instant justice by bypassing due process and using vigilantism to douse public anger.

Men publicly flogged after being arrested for allegedly throwing stones at an event. Homes of people razed by bulldozers over charges of encroachment or damaging public property. Citizens applauding a police encounter because it resulted in the deaths of men accused of assaulting a woman. These disparate events have one common thread: The growing tendency of some officials and a section of the citizenry to demand instant justice by bypassing due process and using vigilantism to douse public anger.

Such an approach makes a mockery of the justice system — innocent until proven guilty.  (HT Photo)

This is a bad omen for a country where the rule of the law was established with the intent to create a just State that wouldn’t succumb to mediaeval ideas of retribution commonly employed along the axes of India’s many cleavages of caste, gender, creed, faith, region and ability, among others. Admittedly, weak State capacity translates into long waits for justice with thousands of cases being added to the pendency roster every year, and police investigations still seen to favour the rich and powerful. But the response to this is to add capacity at the grassroots and institute robust grievance redressal mechanisms, not short-circuit due process by assuming guilt and exacting retribution.

Such an approach makes a mockery of the justice system — innocent until proven guilty. Succumbing to the allure of instant justice plays off the bloodlust of the audience and hides the incompetence of the authorities, who mete out punishment without having done the investigation. Worse, such incidents only fuel public demands for more. The government, therefore, must crack down strictly on errant officials, reconsider policies that focus on punishment rather than proving the crime, and affirm the importance of due process. Anything less is unacceptable.