Mob Lynching or Mob violence is a violent punishment or execution, without following due process of law, for real or alleged crimes. India is perhaps the only place in the world where mobile messaging has led to such a widespread mass exodus and lynching. In September 2017, the Supreme Court had asked states to take strong measures to curb such instances of violence in the name of cow protection, but not much steps were taken to that effect.

 Issues with mob lynching

• Against rule of law: The process of adjudication takes place within the courts of justice, and not on the streets.
• Against human rights: The lynching by mob create an atmosphere where human beings are dehumanised, freedom of speech, expression and personal choices are endangered and plurality and diversity is not accepted.
• Fuel communalism and casteism: as in most cases, victims are the most vulnerable people of society - nomadic tribes, religious minorities, lower castes etc.
• No database to analyse trends: As per Ministry of Home Affairs there is no record keeping on public lynching. Thus, making it difficult to draw conclusions and possible solutions to the problem.

Rise in causes that fuel the tendency towards such incidents

• Loss of faith of people in the judicial/democratic system of governance especially the poor and marginalized. So they are tempted to deliver instant justice  in their own ways. 
• Socio-political framework: it involves people with little or no education, deep fissures and mistrust, political patronage to achieve narrow political gains,rising intolerance and growing polarization.
• Misinformation and propagandas spread through platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp: For e.g. recent rumours regarding child lifters have incited many impulsive and unplanned acts of violence across the country.
• The incapability/unwillingness of law enforcement agencies to act against mob crimes further encourages it to take the law into their own hands frequently.
• Public officials and police departments should be held accountable for showing incompetence rather than putting onus on social media platforms completely
• Dispersion of responsibility and guilt unlike sense of responsibility in individual action.

Way forward

• Setting example and ensuring prosecution and punishment: Mob lynching points to a disruption that reflects the loss of trust in state capabilities in justice delivery. Thus, such reiterative brutality and assaults on personal liberty and the right to life needs to be suppressed and punished so that perpetrators know that they would not be able to get away with it.
• Focus needed on social/attitudinal change: through reaching out to local communities to keep peace and check trouble makers from spreading rumours, creating awareness regarding misuse of social media by mass campaigns with help of civil society etc.
• Strengthening administration and governance to ensure public confidence in state institutions: by strengthening local intelligence networks, swifter response from police, proactive flagging of rumors.
• Holding Social media platforms accountable: WhatsApp should change its platform to enable privacy in messages between individuals and tracking identity where forwarded message is to public.
• Adopt innovative practices as adopted in various states: For example
• Telangana police has trained a team of 500 police officers to tackle the fake news menace. These officers go to villages to spread awareness about social issues. Police personnel have also been added to local WhatsApp groups in villages to spot rumors that could lead to violence.
• The West Bengal police took to Twitter to dispel a rumor that government had sanctioned a five-day holiday on account of Eid, nixing attempts to incite communal tension.