Man’s greed to make a quick buck or two can cost him his own life. At least, that is the only way to describe a bit of a shocker from Rajasthan, none else. In a country where human trafficking is a constantly occurring phenomenon, there is hardly a surprise that illegal acts like cow smuggling too occur and rather frequently for that matter.
In what’s a rather sudden surprising news of sorts, a man, accused of being involved in an illicit racket of cow smuggling, was beaten to death in a district in Rajasthan. The onlookers, were in fact, stunned to see the man who died involved with another accomplice in the illegal cow smuggling activity.
Of the two men who were beaten by witnesses who caught them red-handed transporting cows on foot, one was so severely hit under the attack that he eventually breathed his last and died on spot. The incident is said to have occurred in Rajasthan’s Ramgarh district.
The police got involved in the matter immediately and truth be told for Rajasthan police’ involvement in cracking down illegal activities like cow smuggling isn’t anything new or surprising. It’s one of those activities that happen all the time, throughout the year.
The victim who died as a result of a massive mob-lynching attack is said to be one Akbar Khan. To his utter lack of luck, he was caught engaging in the act of cow smuggling by the villagers in Ramgarh. The villagers decided to settle scores themselves and instead of resorting to calling the cops and thus drew curtains on the man’s life. The other fellow, who was also caught, was beaten but perhaps was fortunate enough to survive and didn’t succumb to his wounds, unlike his companion.
The incident is definitely a part of a massive mob-lynching activity that is so much of a part of regular affairs in the state of the country. Perhaps, it may not be too critical to suggest that in different parts of the country not a day goes by when an incident of mob lynching does not occur leading to many incidents of vitriolic violence.
But all that told, one wonders what might have happened had the deceased, Akbar Khan, would’ve just been slapped or saved from severe hitting and instead simply handed over to the police? Till when can India and Indians ill-afford such outright severity of events where mob-lynching consumes many a life?
Surely, the victim was fully involved in the crime and was caught red-handed cow smuggling but was the involvement of the mob that took the matter in their own hands necessary?
The shocking incident from Rajasthan actually comes days inside the landmark Supreme Court ruling in regards to the increasing incidences of mob-lynching in India. The Supreme Court had asked the legislature to consider enacting a new penal provision to deal with mob violence and provide deterrent punishment to offenders.
It would be further added- No citizen can take the law into their hands and the government must act, said the Supreme Court on Tuesday. “In case of fear and anarchy, the state has to act positively,” said Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra. This incident has been branded an act of mob-lynching as it should have and a really severe one at that.
It also remains to be seen if those involved can stand corrected or are in any way interested in taking cognisance of the ruling upheld and declared by the highest court of legal justice in the world’s largest democracy? Well, truth be told, if these incidences are not corrected, then those who rightly describe a democracy as ‘mobocracy’ may perhaps be right in their assessment. What else can one say?