Leader Writer: Wangkheimayum Bhupendra Singh
The state had witnessed eruptions of the ever powerful mob twice in recent times. The most recent was witnessed at the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences on the morning of August 30. Angry friends and family of a woman who died in a delivery related case stormed the hospital. Police had to lathi charge and fire smoke bombs to control the mob and in the resulting skirmish eight persons including two policemen were injured. The mob had accused the doctors at the hospital of negligence, blaming their negligence for the death of the 25 year old. In an earlier eruption, a mob lynched a couple for their involvement in the murder and rape of a five year old at Wabagai Tentha Thambal hillock under Kakching police station. As we see it, mob violence has come to be an integral part of the state and its people. We have seen and read about numerous times when the people had erupted and taken the laws in their own hands invaliding the law to take its own course in the state. Without dwelling much on the reasons behind the people’s wrath or the victim’s crimes, we could validate that such mob actions are unaccounted for in a state which has its own government and authority. As the people of the state we have our rights to expressed our feelings, however we can never interpret mob violence as a proper and decent way of expressing our feelings towards a crime. And people also need to realize that the state doesn’t allow anyone outside of its authority to take the law in their own hands. The land has its own course of investigating a crime and booking the criminal. Citizens should place the law of the land above their emotions and feelings and let it take its own course. Where is the rationality in someone killing a person for killing another? One’s decision should be governed by rationality so that the consequence that follows remains inside the purview of the law and doesn’t become a crime in itself. While it is a given that consequences of all actions could not be forecasted at all times, one should be doubly sure that there actions are govern by rational thinking. There is another point of view that considering the inability of the government to provide quick and reliable justicein several cases, the people have been led to think that they have to take the law in their own hands. However, this couldn’t and shouldn’t act as the justification for the people taking the law in their own hands. This is where the government needs to strengthen its own authority and inject confidence to the people about the presence of its authority. The efficiency of an authority depends largely on its acceptability among its people which in turn stems from the confidence that people have in it. And this is when education is needed to enlighten the people about the intricacies of law and the authorities. Public participation in the formation of the government and their decision making attributes largely depend on their knowledge and understanding. Both the public and the state have their respective spaces for the smooth running of the state and both should not interfere and try to encroach upon one another. There should be a clear demarcation of boundaries between the two. The democratic machinery of the state allows the people have all the power during the formation process of the government, however, they losses the power once the government is being formed and as such should not encroach upon the authority and powers of the government.
Home Editorial