2018 judgment on guidelines to prevent cow vigilantism & mobocracy unmanageable: Supreme Court

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday said its 2018 judgment on "general directions" to the Centre and States to prevent and prosecute cow vigilantism and mobocracy was “unmanageable”, as it refused to consider a contempt petition over its non-implementation.

A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said, "If somebody’s rights are infringed or some action is taken in excess of the protection of law, then their rights must be protected. Immediate action must be taken in such cases."

The bench said that the court had in 2018 Tehseen Poonawalla case only laid down general principles of law for the authorities to comply with and the people to raise in their protection in case of any violation of their rights.

In case of any breach of rights, the public has a remedy in law through the courts concerned, the bench said.

The court was hearing a contempt petition filed by Samastha Kerala Jamiathul Ulema on non-compliance of directions issued in the decision in 2018.

"How many contempt petitions will be there? Sorry, we are not entertaining the plea," the bench said.

In 2018 judgment, the court had issued a series of guidelines to the States and the police forces to take steps to prevent communal violence and lynchings. A three-judge bench headed by then CJI Dipak Misra had directed the police to register FIRs and prosecute the perpetrators without any delay, while issuing a slew of directions including preventive, remedial and punitive measures to tackle the crime of lynching.

The petitioner Samastha Kerala Jamiathul Ulema alleged non-compliance of directions issued in the case.

The court, however, dismissed the plea with liberty to the petitioner to avail the legal remedy available in law.

In 2018 judgment, the court had said, “Lynching and mob violence are creeping threats that may gradually take the shape of a Typhon-like monster as evidenced in the wake of the rising wave of incidents of recurring patterns by frenzied mobs across the country instigated by intolerance and misinformed by circulation of fake news and false stories.”

The court had also directed the States to designate a nodal officer, not below the rank of SP, to prevent incidents of mob violence and lynching, identifying districts prone to such violence, holding of regular review meetings by the DGPs with intelligence officers to prohibit instances of dissemination of offensive material through different social media platforms.

The court had also directed the central and state governments to take steps to curb and stop dissemination of irresponsible and explosive messages, videos and other material on various social media platforms having a tendency to incite mob violence. It had ordered for regular broadcast on media platforms messages that lynching and mob violence would invite serious consequence.