Mob Lynching under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023

Introduction 

Mob lynching refers to extrajudicial execution of people based on various factors like race, caste, community, language etc. Earlier there was no separate provision for mob lynching under the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC).   

• The offence of mob lynching has been newly introduced in Bhartiya Nyaya Sahita, 2023 (BNS) under Section 103 (2). 
• Section 117(4) of BNS provides for the offence where the mob causes grievous hurt to the person. 

Section 103(2) of BNS 

• Section 103 (2) of BNS provides that when a group of five or more persons acting in concert commits murder on the ground of race, caste or community, sex, place of birth, language, personal belief or any other similar ground each member of such group shall be punished with death or with imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine. 
• The constituents of this offence are: 
  • Group of five or more persons 
  • Acting in concert 
  • Commits murder 
  • On the ground of 
    • Race 
    • Caste 
    • Community 
    • Sex 
    • Place of birth 
    • Language 
    • Personal belief 
    • Or any other similar ground 
  • Each member shall be punished with death or imprisonment for life and also liable to fine.  

Section 117 (4) of BNS 

• Section 117 (4) of BNS provides that when a group of five or more persons acting in concert, causes grievous hurt to a person on the ground of his race, caste or community, sex, place of birth, language, personal belief or any other similar ground, each member of such group shall be guilty of the offence of causing grievous hurt, and shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine. 
• The constituents of this offence are: 
  • Group of five or more persons 
  • Acting in concert 
  • Causes grievous hurt 
  • On the ground of 
    • Race 
    • Caste 
    • Community 
    • Sex 
    • Place of birth 
    • Language 
    • Personal Belief 
    • Any other similar ground 
  • Each member of such group 
    • Shall be guilty of the offence of causing grievous hurt, 
    • Shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years and shall also be liable to a fine. 
• Under this Section instead of causing death, the mob is causing grievous hurt to the person. 

 Laws Under Indian Penal Code, 1860 

• The IPC had provisions like murder, murder attempt, rioting, rioting with possession of lethal weapons, mischief, these acts are individually punished under Section 302, Section 307, Section 147, Section 148, Section 427 of IPC. 
• The above provisions are invoked as a result of an unlawful assembly.  

Measures to Combat Mob Lynching 

• Mob vigilantism and mob violence have to be prevented by the Government by taking strict action. 
• The Court has laid down a framework of preventive, remedial and punitive measures to combat mob lynching. 
• The remedial measures issued by the Court were as follows: 
  • The jurisdictional police station shall immediately cause to lodge an FIR, without any undue delay, under the relevant provisions of IPC and/or other provisions of law. 
  • The Station House Officer shall intimate the Nodal Officer who shall be duty bound to ensure that the investigation is carried out effectively and the Report of police officer on completion of investigation (charge sheet) in such cases is filed without undue delay from the date of registration of the FIR or arrest of the accused.   
  • To compute compensation, the State Governments shall give due regard to the nature of bodily injury, psychological injury and loss of earnings including loss of opportunities of employment and education and expenses incurred on account of legal and medical expenses.  
  • The cases of lynching and mob violence shall be specifically tried by designated court/Fast Track Courts earmarked for that purpose in each district. 
  • To ensure deterrence and to set an example, the trial court must ordinarily award maximum sentence as provided for various offences under the provisions of the IPC.     
  • The victims or the next of kin of the deceased in cases of mob violence and lynching shall receive free legal aid if he or she so chooses and engage any advocate of his/her choice from amongst those enrolled in the legal aid panel under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987.      
• In this case the Government was directed to issue directives/advisories to the nodal officers in relation thereof. 
• Following this a private member bill was also introduced by Shehzad Poonawala which was Protection from Lynching Bill. 

Loopholes in this Provision 

• It does not mention the word ‘religion’ and hence does not explicitly recognize mob lynching motivated on religious grounds. 
  • This gains importance in the light of other sections involving hate crime such as inciting violence and promoting enmity between social-cultural groups, where any act committed on the grounds of religion has been recognized as crime.   
  • The sections against inciting violence and promoting enmity penalizes those who, “on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, caste or community or any other ground whatsoever, [promote] disharmony or feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will between different religious, racials, language or regional groups or castes or communities”   
• The Jharkhand High Court division bench consisting of Justice Ananda Sen and Justice Subhash Chand suo moto took cognizance of a major discrepancy in Section 103(2) where the phrase “any other ground” was printed instead of “any other similar ground”. 
  • According to the Court, such omission will have serious implications for the interpretation and application of law. 
  • The Court directed the publisher to rectify this error without any delay.  

Conclusion 

Mob lynching is an offence that was absent in IPC. It is a new offence introduced under BNS. Indeed, there was a need for the introduction of such an offence in view of such incidents in our society. However, how effective this law will be in curbing such incidents is something that time can only tell.