Mob lynching: Evidence very crucial for conviction

With culprits in such crimes largely being acquitted in the end due to absence of individual responsibility, it has given way to doubts over how the 25 people arrested in connection with the two murder cases would be prosecuted.

G Chandru, Inspector attached to the Vadapalani police station, said that death due to mob fury would usually be considered culpable homicide and would mostly be booked under Section 304 of IPC. “Though the mob’s intention may not be to kill the victim, he or she died because of their action. Although police book the suspects under Section 302 (murder) of IPC and file charge sheet, the judge may award the punishment under Section 304 of IPC,” said the Inspector. However, considering the difficulty in establishing each accused’s role in the murder, it is very unlikely that all the offenders are punished.

Speaking to DTNext, Kannapan, a retired police officer, said that cases involving a mob is more complex as police must identify the real culprits and show evidence for their involvement. “The investigation officer should give an account for each injury on the deceased’s body based on post-mortem report and affix responsibility for that. They should also produce the weapon used, which is acknowledged by the doctor who did the post-mortem,” he said.

“It is not to say that conviction is not possible in such cases, but there is a need for a dedicated and experienced team to reduce the contradictions in the chargesheet. Each loop hole in the investigation will work in favour of the accused to get acquitted,” Kannapan said.

The retired officer, however, labelled it a dangerous trend when he spoke about the mentality of society that if a crime is done as a group, it would be justified or accepted as normal. Ponneri DSP Raja, who was behind the arrest of 15 people in the Pulicat case, said there is strong evidence against the accused as there is a video proof of the attack. “Without the evidence, it might have even been difficult to trace them. But with this video, there is no way that the accused can escape,” he said.