Crime and Punishment
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: March 12, 2015 -
The recent lynching of a rape accused in Dimapur, Nagaland on March 5 has attracted enough national and international media attention. While the media had focussed on the barbaric nature of the crime of punishing an accused, there are loose ends to the whole story while portraying the temporal climax.
On March 5, hundreds of youth broke into the jail, dragged the accused out, stripped him naked and dragged him towards the centre of Dimapur City. Reports said that the accused died from injuries inflicted on him along the way and at the place where he was publicly displayed.
While the behaviour of the mob can be condemned for taking the law in their own hands, it would also be worthwhile to note the mass anger generated by increasing incidents of rapes and physical violence against women in Nagaland in recent times.
There is a need for serious reflection on how a society embroiled in prolonged socio-political turmoil carry the burden of trauma albeit the reversed progression of mass psychology.
As would any keen observers say, the occurrence of such incidents in society gives hint to explaining how “the supposed victims become the victimisers.”
If there is anything to learn from the March 5 Dimapur incident, it is the uneasy relation between administration and policing of the society on one side and the crisis of governance on the other.
It is an open secret how the criminal justice system operates in India and the cumulative effect of official apathy has led to such episodes.
While waiting for the official report of the investigation on the sequence of events that caused the lynching of the man accused of rape, it should be noted that persecuting those who have been arrested in connection with the March 5 incident would only bring justice to the victim of mob brutality without addressing the core issues like rapes and violence against women confronting the society or for that matters the burning issue of illegal immigrants.
Any observers should note that the notion of crime and punishment cannot be understood in isolation or only through bringing temporal relief to the victims of all forms of violence.
* Comments posted by users in this discussion thread and other parts of this site are opinions of the individuals posting them (whose user ID is displayed alongside) and not the views of e-pao.net. We strongly recommend that users exercise responsibility, sensitivity and caution over language while writing your opinions which will be seen and read by other users. Please read a complete Guideline on using comments on this website.