National Federation of Indian Women moves Supreme Court alleging 'alarming' rise in mob lynching of Muslims

The Supreme Court on Friday sought the response of the Central government and the police in six States in a petition raising concern about a rise in incidents of mob violence against minorities and seeking immediate interim compensation for the families of victims of mob lynching. [National Federation of Indian Women vs Union of India and ors].A bench of Justices BR Gavai and JB Pardiwala issued notice on the public interest litigation (PIL) filed by the National Federation of Indian women, after hearing its counsel, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal.Notices were issued to the Union government and the police in the States of Maharashtra, Haryana, Orissa, Rajasthan, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh..The plea, drawn by advocate Rashmi Singh and filed through advocate Sumita Hazarila, flagged "the alarming rise" in cases of violence and mob lynching against Muslims. This was despite the clear guidelines for State machinery laid out in the Tehseen Poonawalla case to deal with mob violence, the plea said..The rampant rise in mob violence and lynching is the natural consequence of lack of action by the State, despite the Supreme Court laying down punitive and remedial measures in the Tehseen Poonawalla case, the petitioner contended. The petitioner further highlighted that it should be viewed as the result of a general narrative of ostracization that minority communities face. This narrative has been borne out of false propaganda that is spread through public events featuring hate speech that targets minorities as well as through social media, news channels and films, the petitioner added. The petitioner further argued that a "poison of general communal hate and divide" has taken over a significant part of the population, which acts as a pre-requisite for such incidents of mob violence.While so, the State authorities have failed to take adequate action to curb this menace, the petitioner contended. "In most cases, minimal action of merely registering FIRs is the only thing that is done by the authorities which seems to be more of a formality than any genuine initiation of the criminal machinery," the plea added. .The petitioner-association urged the Supreme Court to order a minimum, uniform compensation amount in addition to the ex gratia payments sought for the families of mob violence victims. Such compensation should take into account the nature of the bodily injury, the psychological injury, expenses to be incurred and loss of earnings of the victims, the petitioner added. .If you ignore hate crime, then one day it will come for you: Supreme Court laments delay in filing FIR in 2021 Noida case.The Supreme Court had, in April this year, issued notice on a similar PIL filed by the Indian Muslim for Progress and Reforms. In that plea, it was stressed that the trauma caused by hate crimes and mob lynching can last a lifetime.