Sir — People abhorring violence are now often reading about lynching. How else does one explain the murder of a teenager, Junaid Khan, in a train compartment packed with passengersIJ His two brothers and another fellow traveller suffered stab wounds too. Sadly, no one in their vicinity found it worthwhile to intervene even when lives were at stake.
As political parties adopt a muted response to blood on the streets, mobs of angry men are now raring to settle their societal and political disagreements by lynching the hapless and the outnumbered. In India, this tyranny is increasingly rearing its ugly head, signifying a virtual collapse of law and order. A mob seeks refuge in numbers, which makes it easy for even a small collective to get away with the horrific crime of lynching.
Are the core values of humanity at stake nowIJ For, systematic violation of such rights to target minorities would lead to schism and violence, damaging India’s multi-cultural tradition and rob it of the fruits of economic reform.