DNA Edit: Leash the Lumpens

Vandalism in the name of democracy is a lot more than an artful dodge. It’s a criminal act that uses public mandate as a ruse to establish violence. It hurts the right to protest in the most damaging ways by using brute force for narrow, selfish gains. A mob doesn’t think, it just acts on orders, and those orders invariably direct muscle power to wanton destruction. Against this backdrop, the Supreme Court (SC) asking the Centre to create courts in every state and union territory to fix accountability for vandalism and compensate the victims should be lauded as a meaningful intervention. At the core of a violent protest is the irrepressible urge to take the law into one’s own hands. A group of angry people seeking refuge in numbers is pointing at the inability of a criminal justice system to rein in lumpen elements.

The apex court’s suggested measures — that one or more district judges be given responsibilities in consultation with respective high courts to prosecute and fix civil liabilities for mayhem — if implemented, will act as a deterrent for those who have scant respect for the laws of the land. It doesn’t take much to incite a mob if there is a blind loyalty to the leader, and a strong sense of misplaced identity and entitlement. Political parties understand that jolly well, which explains why, despite the guidelines framed by the SC in 2009, which includes videographing incidents of agitations, there exists no mechanism to deal with the damages suffered by victims.

The Panchkula violence in the wake of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Ram Rahim Singh Insan’s conviction in August is a classic example of how a law-and-order machinery can suddenly become weak-kneed and simply allow more than 40 people to die. That it was carefully planned and engineered by both Insan and his accomplice Honeypreet is now public knowledge. The Punjab and Haryana state governments were not only extremely slow in taking preventive action, it also seemed to have been giving tacit approval for vandalism by acting perplexed. It’s true that the Constitution has given the right to assemble people and protest peacefully, but it doesn’t endorse or condone the propensity to damage public property or indulge in violence that leads to loss of lives.

It’s heartening to know that Attorney General KK Venugopal, appearing for the Centre, agreed with the apex court’s suggestions and said the government had taken steps to amend the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act in consultation with the Ministry of Law and Justice. Once a robust law is in place, what automatically follows is its enforcement. It would also entail empowering the police to take action without the fear of political interference. Enough blood, toil, tears and sweat have been shed to establish and uphold democracy in a huge and diverse country like India. Those sacrifices cannot be allowed to be erased from public memory. The Mahatma brought the Empire down on its knees through non-violence. It’s a lesson that badly needs to be reinforced in independent India.