What is Section 103(2) BNS

Mob Lynching is a form of violence in which a group of people executes a presumed offender and inflicts torture upon him. They did it on the pretext of administering justice without any trial. It is an illegal way of punishing someone. It is a way of going against the law. This act of punishing someone publicly is condemned. It is a contempt for the rule of law.

Section 103(2) BNS

Section 103 talks about the punishment of murder. Earlier, Section 302 of IPC used to talk about this. The new concept of mob lynching has been added to the punishment of murder section. Earlier, there was no particular section punishing mob lynching. The section states that:

If the group of five or more persons commits the murder of the person on grounds like race, caste, community, sex, place of birth, language, personal belief, and on any other similar grounds. It is important here that those five or more persons should have acted in concert. In these types of cases, each member of the group will be held liable and will be punished with death or life imprisonment and a fine.

This act of mob lynching is a grave offense. That is why the death penalty has been provided for this. This is grave from the society’s point of view. This act of mob lynching is a crime against society. This weakens the position of law and security in the country.

Case Laws

In the case of Tehseen Poonawalla vs. Union of India (2018), The SC held that mob lynching against Dalits is a horrendous act. The Court even directed the government to frame a law punishing mob lynching so that a separate punishment could be provided for the same. The law should be such that it instills fear among offenders. The court even said that such an act threatened the rule of law. The court said that it is shocking how Indian people are numb to these types of cases when such cases are happening right in front of them. The court reiterated that it is the duty of the government to check up on these people so that they do not dare to take the law into their own hands.

Reasons for mob lynching

• Lack of awareness and education: Limited education and awareness lead to fake news. The people believed in such news, which led to mass unrest and destruction.
• Psychology of mob: The mob has the psychology that if they commit a crime in a group, there will be less chance of being arrested as it is difficult to identify the real culprit. Moreover, in such cases, the responsibility is shared.
• Societal Factors: There is a trend of instant justice among the people. Moreover, our social framework is such that people have mistrust based on their religion, caste, etc.
• No collection of databases: There has been no collection of data on public lynching. It is difficult to reach a conclusion. In the 2017 NCRB report, the data related to mob lynching, like killing by khap panchayat and murder committed for religious purposes, were not recorded.
• Inefficient investigation: The inefficient investigation leads to a false conclusion. This, in turn, leads to hatred among the people. Moreover, fake news adds fuel to the fire. This in turn results in cases of mob lynching.

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