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Date: 17/January/2018; JANSATTA
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Attacks by cow vigilantes must stop, SC tells States
NEW DELHI, September 07, 2017 ; THE HINDU
Asks them to appoint nodal police officers to crack down on such groups
Attacks on innocents by cow vigilantes must stop, the Supreme Court said on Wednesday.
It ordered the States and the Union Territories to appoint nodal police officers in every district to crack down on such groups.
BJP-ruled
Haryana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Gujarat accepted the apex court’s
suggestion to appoint dedicated officers in the rank of Deputy
Superintendent of Police to prevent ‘gau rakshaks,’ as they call
themselves, from taking the law into their own hands or becoming a law
unto themselves.
A three-judge Bench of Chief Justice of India
Dipak Misra and Justices Amitava Roy and A.M. Khanwilkar was hearing an
intervention by Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson, Tushar Gandhi, about the lack
of responsibility and accountability shown by the Centre and State
administrations as vigilante groups wreaked havoc and resorted to murder
in broad daylight in the name of the cow.
Centre’s responsibility
Dalits
and Muslims have reportedly been at the receiving end of violence
unleashed by lynch mobs, especially in the four northern States. The
court exhorted the Centre to uphold its constitutional mandate under
Article 256 and direct the States to act against the groups. It said the
Centre could not remain silent, leaving everything to the States.
The
court directed the Centre to respond to a submission by senior advocate
Indira Jaising, for Mr. Gandhi, that the government cannot wash its
hands of its constitutional responsibility under Article 256. The Centre
should reply to this argument in the spirit of “co-operative
federalism.”
The Centre has maintained that violence by ‘gau
rakshaks’ was a ‘State subject’ and it had no role to play, though it
condemned all forms of violence.
“Non-violence is the founding
faith of this country. The Centre cannot turn its back on the violence.
The States have the responsibility to lodge First Information Reports
against these vigilantes,” Ms. Jaising submitted.
“You have to
stop it [the violence],” Chief Justice Misra told Additional Solicitor
General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the four northern States.
‘Do not politicise issue’
But
when senior advocate Colin Gonsalves raised the issue of communal
violence supported by certain “groups” and the murder of Bengaluru
journalist Gauri Lankesh, the court stopped him, saying he should not
politicise the issue.
Ms. Jaising said that most of the violent
incidents had occurred on highways. The court directed the Chief
Secretaries and Directors General of Police to take steps to protect the
highways from vigilante mobsThe Centre must also indicate its views on
this issue.
Justice Khanwilkar wondered why no one had filed PIL
pleas against the carcasses of slaughtered animals found strewn on roads
and public places.
The court posted the case for further hearing on September 22.
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NEWS UPDATE 23 MAY 2017
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