Right-wing vigilantism: Taking law into hands, subverting the system and spreading terror on the streets
By Shams Ur Rehman Alavi
The right-wing vigilantism has reached a stage where they carry out attacks, take law in own hands and subvert authority of the state. Bajrang Dal has been involved in parallel policing.
Such groups are actually causing immense harm to the nation. If a person finds something wrong or suspicion, then plaint has to be made to police.
Authorities take action, cops examine and if they register case, later judiciary decides.
No gang or group should be allowed to turn the country into a banana republic where any goon can torture, target other(s). Either in the name of cow or forcing a person to chant a slogan, the misuse of power and the street violence must end.
Either it's barging into a hotel room, applying cow dung & ink on the youth's face and assaulting him in #Bhopal or forcing a family to throw out a tenant because of his religion in other state, that's a mockery of law-and-order.
Terror on streets must stop
From Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh to Dehradun in Uttarakhand, these incidents show a total lack of regard for the authority of the wings of the State.
The groups that harm law-and-order situation & conduct 'parallel policing' need to be dealt with sternly. Just carrying a Saffron cloth doesn't give license to anyone to intervene with the system.
In the latest incident, the intruders went into a hotel room, dragged out an interfaith couple. The girl said that she had come to meet the youth, willingly. The gang members took the man along, applied cow dung and ink on his face.
The man was stripped to a semi-naked state. The attackers raised inflammatory slogans and it was all recorded. The video was later circulated and this angered the citizens.
They assaulted him on the street, abused him and also blasphemous terms. The gang members were not caught on the spot. It was after Muslim community's outrage, the police registered a case. However, UAPA was not invoked.
Mob violence, parallel policing and public harassment
Parallel policing began in India in the decade of 1980s. Bajrang Dal was formed in this era.
The Congress party that ruled the centre and most of the states, turned a blind eye towards it. The result was such that the groups kept expanding. Later, many self-styled groups cropped up in different parts of the state. Wearing a Saffron scarf was enough to give them the power to beat anyone.
Over the years, it became a 'system'. Bullying, extortion and criminal activities were run and hidden under the garb of right-wing majoritarian privilege. The political parties gave them free hand and even after taking over law-and-order, these groups were not dealt with sternly.
Despite indulging in violence and lawlessness, these groups and their members were seldom booked. If action was taken, the charges were light and often dropped, later. Stern laws like UAPA or action under NSA was not taken. This emboldened the Dal or the other groups that used terms like Dharam Sena or Sriram Sene to keep on playing with the law book.