When empathy is criminal

A lynching is no longer a new or unusual occurrence in “New India”. It has become something of a routine.

- SWARA BHASKER

A citizen—normally from a working-class background, generally Muslim, often dalit, in one case two Hindu sadhus, or on occasion someone accused of being a child kidnapper—is recorded on phone cameras, being thrashed by a group of people, pretty much always all men, and the videos then find their way onto social media.

The videos spark instant outrage, depending on the identity and issue fault line that the victim occupies. Social media users are outraged, pressure builds on local police, first information reports (FIRs) are lodged, and a few arrests are made.

But there is not always closure or justice.

In the 2016 Una flogging incident, a group of higher caste men tied dalit men to a jeep and flogged them while recording the incident. The video went viral creating a huge outrage, FIRs were filed, and 43 accused were arrested, 35 later released on bail. In 2018, however, the prime accused allegedly sought out the victims and thrashed them again, while on bail!

Last week, a video surfaced from Ghaziabad where a 72-year-old Muslim man is seen being thrashed by a group of men. According to initial reports— published and broadcast by a range of media platforms—in a written complaint to the police, the victim, Abdul Samad Saifi, had alleged that he was offered a lift by a group of men, who took him to a spot where they thrashed him, forced him to chant “Jai Shri Ram”, made him watch videos of other Muslims receiving the same treatment, and then chopped off his beard.