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Loss of innocents: on the wave of lynchings in Tamil Nadu
Three recent incidents(घटनाओं) of lynching(हत्या) in Tamil Nadu, unrelated except for the mindless violence and brutality(क्रूरता/निर्दयता), are grim(कठोर) reminders of the power a mob(भीड़) can wield. While arrests have been made in all three cases, and warnings issued by law enforcement authorities, the incidents are a cause for pause. On Wednesday night, a mob in Pulicat, north of Chennai, beat up a 45-year-old homeless man. They woke him up as he slept on a bridge, beat him up and then hung(फ़ांसी लटकाना/टांगना) him from it. Villagers justified this by saying they thought he was a child kidnapper. Earlier, about 240 km south of Pulicat, a 55-year-old woman, who had gone with her relatives to a village in Tiruvannamalai district in search of a temple, was beaten to death. Her companions were injured. While asking a villager for directions, she had shared chocolates with children playing nearby. Locals say they mistook this as the action of kidnappers trying to lure(लुभाना/फुसलाहट)children, and chased the car the group was travelling in to thrash(पीटना/ताड़ना) them. In end-April, a 30-year-old north Indian man died in a town in Vellore district after he was beaten up by residents who mistook him for a burglar(चोर). Such instances of mob madness(पागलपन/बेधड़कता) require a firm response from the police, one that signals that those who dispense such ‘instant justice’ will be severely punished. Equally, there needs to be continued responsiveness(जवाबदेही/संवेदनशीलता) on the part of the local administrations in dealing with anxiety(चिंता/घबराहट) and suspicion in local communities.
The police say the trigger for the lynchings could be a rash of xenophobic messages circulating on WhatsApp warning that “north Indians” are looking to kidnap children in Tamil Nadu. They subsequently issued warnings that strict action would be taken against those who forward such messages, including by invoking(विनती करना) the Goondas Act. At least one rumour-monger(अफवाह बेचनेवाला) has been arrested. The social media, by its very nature, enables the unchallenged dissemination(विस्तार/प्रचार) of unverified information, and its regulation presents a challenge to law enforcement. It is important to analyse such incidents to understand the underlying anxieties(चिंताओं/सोच) and the drift(भाव/अभिप्राय) of trouble-making(मुसीबत बनाना) attempts. While fear-mongering is typically undertaken on social media, the counter-information campaign(अभियान/मुहिम) needs to be publicly broadcast and confidence fostered at the level of the police station so that residents feel free to approach the authorities to verify the messages or seek protection. But the signal must also be sent out in no uncertain terms that lynchings amount to murder or attempt to murder. Mobs are amorphous(असंगत ) units that confer(विचार-विमर्श करना) anonymity(नाम को गुप्त रखना) on perpetrators(अपराधियों/दोषी व्यक्ति ), emboldening(उत्साह देना/प्रोत्साहित करना) them, on the spur of the moment, to collectively commit vile acts without a sense of individual guilt(व्यक्तिगत अपराध). The state needs to break this pattern through demonstrable(प्रत्यक्ष/स्पष्ट) action against perpetrators, and widelydisseminate(प्रसारित करना/फैला देना) news of action taken against the guilty.
Important Vocabulary
1.Lynching(हत्या)
Synonyms: execution, capital punishment, mob justice, stringing up, the gallows
2.Hung(फ़ांसी लटकाना/टांगना)
Synonyms: dangling, hanging, swaying
3.Thrash(पीटना/ताड़ना
Synonyms: beat up, clobber, crush, defeat, maul
Antonyms: encourage, inspirit, lose, surrender, bear
4.Lure(लुभाना/फुसलाहट)
Synonyms: allurement, ambush, appeal, attraction, bribe
Antonyms: certainty, discouragement, fact, hindrance, reality
5.Burglar(चोर).
Synonyms: crook, robber, thief, housebreaker, owl
6.Perpetrators(अपराधियों/दोषी व्यक्ति )
Synonyms: assassin, criminal, executioner, perpetrator, soldier
7.Emboldening(उत्साह देना/प्रोत्साहित करना)
Synonyms: buoy, energize, inspire, invigorate, reassure
Antonyms: discourage, dishearten, dissuade, depress
Credit To The Hindu News Paper
