There have been reports of repeat instances of mob lynching in different states of India. It has been pointed out that these presumably faceless mobs gather impromptu on the basis of unverified information on issues that affect the collective conscience of the society such as child trafficking, sexual harassment, cow slaughter etc. Most of the people don't even regret their action of violating the law and even get away with committing such a heinous crime. (a) What are the socio-psychological factors that motivate people to join the mob and kill fellow human beings? (b) Identify the implications of increasing crime of lynching on society. (c) Examine the role of social media in recent instances of mob lynching. As a law enforcement officer, how will you prevent such incidents from happening in your district?

(a) Many socio-psychological factors motivate people to join mobs for lynching

• Poor educational values & easy influence by the masses - HERD MOBILITY
• Lack of employment & poverty creating public discontent which gets manifested as

lychings.

• Belief in getting away unscathed with impunity.
• Social Radicalisation through brain washing
• Nature of the rumoured activities like child traffic also play a role.

(b) Mob lynchings have varied implications:

• Curb on political freedom & violation of Right to life
• Social inequality due to death of innocent members of family who might be sole bread earners
• Degradation of moral ethos of the society
• Fear of lynching & erosion in faith of state institutions

(c) Social Media provides instant reach & in some cases anonymity which helps in rumourmongering. Being highly decentralised & outside government regulation, misuse of social media is increasing. eg. Whatsapp provides privacy which acts in favor of the rumours creators.

However, blaming social Media alone is not the panacea to the problem. The problem is significantly diverse & needs to be tackled through multi-dimensional approach:

• As a law enforcement officer, I will
• Form a special task force to patrol potentially violent prone areas & ensure that law & order is in place.
• Public communication through newspaper &,

radio & TV set will be done.

• Tools for such rumourmongering need to be controlled. I'll get in touch with the social media platform to collaborate & reach a sustainable solution like news verification.

• In long term, I'll request my seniors to frame appropriate guidelines over punitive measures which need to be taken & ensure their efficient implementation.