A call against ‘Mob justice’
- Imphal Times Editorial :: June 08 2017 -

The most basic purpose of an exercise is to make the whole process involved in that particular exercise become second nature, or in other words, become attuned to the requirements of that exercise.

There are certain social exercises that needs to be performed without any let-up especially by those of us in the Media if certain collective behavior or social inclinations are to be highlighted and changed if needed- for good or bad, and one of the most important issue that has to be brought out in the open and discussed without any reservations or preconceived notions is the increasing instances of what can only be ironically termed ‘Mob justice’.

For a community drunk in the reflected glory of our ancestors, it is shameful that we still are unable to reign in our bestial instincts and give rationality a chance to play out its role in the society.

The latest unfortunate incident of the mob serving ‘justice’ for the crime of an alleged double murderer once again raises the uncomfortable question on the validity of the decision of a collective group, even though the incident touched a raw nerve and angered every single rationale human.

Even more alarming is the fact that a section of the public deemed it their privilege to discard the law of the land or disrupt the process of law in destroying the property of the accused and ostracizing the family.

The very incident also clearly projects the primal mindset of generalizing or attributing people into packs or groups.

While the accused, if proven guilty deserves the harshest of punishment under the law of the land and certainly deserves no sympathy whatsoever, it would be highly unlikely to even suggest that the whole family is involved in the alleged crime, or is encouraged to commit the crime.

It would be humanly impossible for the guardians of the law and the security forces to apprehend and dole out justice the very moment a crime is committed.

The state security and investigating authorities truly deserves a round of applause for the excellent work of taking up the lead and pulling up the suspect in such a short period of time.

If we expect them to perform up to their maximum potential, then we need to encourage and assist them in our maximum capacity as ideal citizens rather than to obstruct and view their efforts with suspicion.

We have come a long way since the evolution of humans a few billion years ago.

We have the good fortune of being able to keep pace with the rest of the world in almost every aspect of life- be it fashion, technology, news and informed views, food, culture and arts.

But there is still the pressing need to change our mindset to enable new ideas and views to have a chance of taking root. We need to open up and take charge of our emotions.

We need to be the change we are striving for, and mob mentality should not be given even an iota of space to work its insidious designs.

We have to speak up and speak out as frequently and clearly as required until such blot on the society is removed.