Editorial
Mob violence given short shrift
Let the police act on time
When in mid-July 2011 six students from different city schools and colleges were brutally lynched by an angry mob at Aminbazar with the police acting as mere bystanders, we were outraged, to say the least. What happened thereafter was equally horrendous. Instead of arresting the masterminds behind the violence, the police filed a robbery case against the students who were later proved to have no connection whatsoever with any criminal act. Now that an investigation has been initiated into another case accusing unknown villagers, we are rendered speechless to see that the probe has barely made any progress even after extensive media attention coupled with a High Court directive.
Families of the deceased students have alleged that the case is stuck in an impasse due to some collusive arrangements between the police and the criminals. Although some of the arrested have admitted to their direct involvement with the incident, the police have fended off saying that producing witnesses will take more time. The spot where the students were killed is one of the biggest hotspots of illegal sand trading and drug business. Yet, we have yet to hear anything about the peddlers' alleged involvement with the crime.
Mob violence often leading to the victims' killing is a gruesome criminal offence. Even when a criminal is caught red handed, he has a right to protection from law. Therefore, a conscientious citizen should take a criminal to court instead of taking law in his own hand. What we find more menacing is a trend of people from different professions launching an obnoxious attack on someone without even examining the veracity of the victim's involvement with the crime. It is more obnoxious when such a crime is committed in front of the police. This is precisely what had happened in the killing of the six innocent students.
As we have clearly stated in this column before, we vehemently condemn all incidents of mob violence and demand immediate punishment of all perpetrators involved. We also condemn the passive role played by the police and urge them to take prompt action while a man is being brutally killed.
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