The Supreme Court of India has agreed to hear a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed by the National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW), raising concerns over the increasing incidents of mob violence and lynching of Muslims, particularly by ‘cow vigilantes’. The PIL comes despite the court’s previous ruling in the Tehseen Poonawalla case, where comprehensive guidelines were issued to the Union and state governments to prevent such incidents.
The bench, comprising Justices BR Gavai and JB Pardiwala, issued a notice to the Union Home Ministry and the police chiefs of Maharashtra, Orissa, Rajasthan, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and Haryana. The notice was issued after Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the NFIW, argued that approaching the jurisdiction of all the high courts would be futile. Sibal stated,
“If Your Lordships tell me to go to the high court, nothing would happen. I would have to go to all these high courts. And what would [victims of mob lynching] get? Compensation of two lakhs after ten years. This is despite the [Tehseen Poonawalla] judgment. Where do we go? This is a very serious matter.”
The NFIW has urged the top court to issue a mandamus to the concerned authorities to take immediate action “in terms of the findings and directions in Tehseen Poonawalla” to address the growing problem. The petition refers to recent incidents of Muslims being lynched by a mob over a suspicion of smuggling beef in Bihar’s Saran and Nashik in Maharashtra, an alleged assault by the Bajrang Dal on a Muslim daily wage earner for transporting two cows, a violent attack, illegal detention, and humiliation of two Muslim men by an angry mob in Orissa’s capital, Bhubaneshwar, and an attack on a bus carrying several Hajj pilgrims by a violent mob in Kota, Rajasthan.
The NFIW alleges that the State machinery has consistently failed to take adequate preventive and consequential action to curb the menace of lynching and mob violence, despite a ruling of the Supreme Court that the State has a ‘sacrosanct duty’ to protect its citizens from ‘unruly elements‘ and ‘perpetrators of orchestrated lynching and vigilantism‘.
The petitioner has further submitted that the incidents of mob lynching and cow vigilantism should be seen as a result of the false propaganda against minorities which is spread by means of public events as well as on social media channels, news channels, and films. The petition states,
“A poison of general communal hate and divide has taken over large portions of the populace. This hatred is the precondition of crimes of lynching and mob violence. No adequate action seems to be forthcoming on the part of the State Authorities to curb this menace.”
The NFIW has also sought immediate relief for the lynching victims by asking for a portion of the total amount of compensation to be granted to the victims or their families immediately after the incident as ‘interim compensation’. The petition adds,
“A minimum uniform amount, as deemed appropriate, may additionally be granted to the victims in addition to the amount that may be determined by the respective State authorities after taking into consideration factors such as 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 expense.”
The petition has been filed on behalf of the National Federation of Indian Women by Advocate Rashmi Singh through Advocate-on-Record Sumita Hazarika. The case is titled National Federation of Indian Women v. Union of India & Ors. | Writ Petition (Civil) No. 719 of 2023.