The insensitivity of the government can be visualised from the fact that it has not even published the data on lynching; forget about making any stringent laws on lynching, following order by the Supreme Court. Statistics, data and figure should be above the nuances of colour, religion and caste. Identifying a problem like lynching which is a law and order issue can help to move forward to control it or to find ways and means by which the issue can be addressed.
But when the establishment tries to turn a blind eye on lynching then it implies the lack of seriousness and concern on the part of the government. Lynching is not an issue of one or the other community but it is a national issue which should be a concern for one and all in general and the government in particular. Article 14 of the Constitution of India reads as under: “The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India.” Does this not apply to the lynching victims? ‘Police’ and ‘Public Order’ are State subjects under the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India. Thus, State Governments are also responsible for safety and security of the citizens.
Reacting sharply on the issue that the NCRB has not published data on lynching, John Dayal, a noted social and human rights activist, who is also part of the Karwan-e-Mohabbat (Caravan of Love), a nationwide journey to express solidarity with the victims of hate crimes and lynching said, “The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has become another servant of the ruling political party in the larger attempt to camouflage the inconvenient and guilty truth. Burking – the technical term – of crime data is an old trick. Lynching as targeted violence against Dalits and religious minorities is in fact far more than even activists are able to keep track.”
“Most of the media is sold out and not supportive of minorities. The government has systematically shut down all hate tracking portals. With the crime record bureau not recording and not realising whatever data it has, the human rights situation is compromised. It becomes impossible for civil society and courts to hold the government to account. Even Parliament is rendered impotent in enacting preventive laws,” added Dayal.
Another human rights activist, Ravi Nair, Director of South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre, said, “The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) 2017 is not even sophistry. It is an outright exercise in obfuscation. They took one whole year to cook it as their political masters wanted it. Apart from leaving out data on lynchings, they have also omitted information about crimes against whistle blowers, RTI activists and journalists.”
“Lo and behold, the pen pushing bureaucrats have kowtowed to their Hindutva political masters and added a new category, ‘anti-national Crimes’. Is this why they are planning to rewrite the Criminal Procedure Code and the Indian Penal Code? All the soap in India will not wash their lies,” Nair argued.