Investigating The New Hate Crime

Adv. Nityash Solanki, LL.M., The University of Manchester & The George Washington University & State Government Standing Counsel at Rajasthan High Court

ABSTRACT

Mob-lynching has emerged as a hate crime in Indian jurisdiction that needs parliamentary law on the issue especially to tactfully maintain social welfare structure of State. India recently witnessed an extreme situation of hate crime because of the spread of rumours on WhatsApp regarding organ harvesting. The act of violence exposed law enforcement authorities to face challenges of misinformation spread by social media since recording and sharing misinformation across the country has deterred the society to act responsibly. This article explains the technicalities attached to special legislation/bill discussed below. The article highlights need of the hour in explaining problems posed by vigilante squads. Parliament is thus demanded to pass the bill, namely, The Rajasthan Protection from Lynching Bill, 2019) to frame essential legal guidelines to create force of law. Mob lynching is neither defined in I.P.C. nor in Cr.P.C. In India, the legal principle of “nullum crimen sine lege, nulla poena sine lege”, or “no crime without law, no punishment without law” is essence of criminal law. As a result, codification of mob lynching law is required to truly understand religious disharmony between people belonging to various ethnic groups. Laws dealing with mob lynching under IPC are biased, ambiguous and mostly in favor of the accused party. Mob lynching violence is injurious to public morality and it outrages decency of religious beliefs suggesting pervert public justice.