The herd mentality
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: April 10, 2013 -

Police rounded up suspects on Satyabhama's killing and mob reaction on April 09 2013 :: Pix - Deepak Oinam

After remaining dominating the front pages of all the State dailies for four days during which the public anger and protest spilled over the roads, the case of killing 32-year old Ningombam Satyabhama, who was working as a Junior Research Fellow in Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), appeared to have been solved, finally.

Thanks to the phone call given to Hueiyen Lanpao by James, the lover of Satyabhama, the alleged killer Biju is now in the custody of the State police and all the gory details of how the young woman was killed and her body was later dumped at a spot in Bashikhong Wangkhei Loumanbi under Imphal East district are known.

Leaving aside the question of what the fate of the case would have been if the telephone call from James to the office of Hueiyen Lanpao had not been received and the message relayed to the SP of Imphal West district, the angry mood of the people who are going on a rampage targeting the houses of the accused has once again shown that the culture of mob violence or ‘herd mentality’ among the people in Manipur has become so deep rooted that it appears that they are not going to rest until the killer is given befitting punishment in accordance to the law of the law for the departed soul of Satyabhama to rest in peace.

This write up, of course, is not in support of the prevailing mob culture of taking the law into their own hands.

In fact, we must have written an umpteen number of time through this same column against this mob culture or herd mentality, which is characterized by a lack of individual decision-making or thoughtfulness, thus causing people to think and act in the same way as the majority of those around them without any consideration of the pros and the cons.

But we have been compelled to ponder over again why the people are going insane even after all the alleged killer has been taken into police custody for the law to take its own natural course of action for awarding necessary quantum of punishment, if the accused is found guilty?

It would be wrong to assume that everyone in the mob endorses the senseless violence and destruction being unleashed.

But they too seem to fell a strange sort of contentment over the engulfing mob fury, especially in the present case of Satyabhama.

Does this say something about the manner in which the ‘clueless’ State police had dragged its feet for four days in trying to solve the case, thus keeping the sentiments of the people on a roller coaster ride?

As long as the investigative skill of the State police in any crime depends on ‘telephone call’ from wanted people like James in the present case and the trust of the people on the existing legal system for speedy delivery of justice remains nil, it appears that mob culture or herd mentality, howsoever, hateful, is here to stay for long.

After all, the case of Satyabhama is not the first nor it is going to be last in Manipur.