The Supreme Court on Wednesday took a step towards preventing crimes and violence committed by cow vigilante groups by directing States to appoint a senior cop as nodal officer in each district to monitor such incidents and ensure that culprits are nabbed and punished.
A group of petitioners led by Congress spokesperson Tehseen Poonawala and Tushar Gandhi, the great grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, gave instances where persons were lynched, minors tortured and women raped by men claiming to be part of cow-protection army. According to senior advocate Indira Jaising, representing Gandhi, the crimes mostly occurred on mere suspicion that the victims were transporting cows for slaughter or had consumed beef.
On July 21, when the matter was last taken up, the Centre had given a statement that it did not support such violence perpetrated by so-called cow vigilante groups. However, the Government placed the blame on States claiming law and order is a State subject. Jaising suggested that it was high time for the Centre to step in and exercise its Constitutional power under Article 256 by passing executive instructions to States for curbing such violence.
Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta representing Maharashtra, Haryana and Rajasthan pleaded with the court not to pass any directions and assured that law will take its own course. Another petition being argued by senior advocate Colin Gonsalves pointed out that leaders of political parties were openly exhorting such groups to lynch people in the name of protecting cows and a State’s Chief Minister publicly revoked criminal cases against persons who indulged in crimes related to this cause.
Taking grim view of the facts pointed out to it, the Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justices Amitava Roy and AM Khanwilkar said, “This must stop. If there is law in place, there has to be some kind of curbs so that people don’t take law into their own hands. It is a group action and some kind of planned action is to be taken by States so that such kind of vigilantism does not grow in any sphere.”
The Bench directed States to nominate a senior police officer as a nodal officer to stop such acts and directed Chief Secretaries to coordinate with Director General of Police (DGP) to take steps to prevent incidents of cow vigilantism. “The senior police officer shall take prompt action and ensure (that) vigilante groups and such people are prosecuted with quite promptitude,” said the Bench. Each State was asked to apprise about steps taken in an affidavit to be filed in two weeks.
The Bench also asked the Centre to take instructions on whether directions under Article 256 needed to be issued to all State Governments. The court further directed States to be vigilant to ensure such incidents do not take place on highways. The matter will be heard next on September 22.