THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state police on Saturday issued a circular in the wake of the rise in violence and mob lynching in the state. Earlier, the Supreme Court has issued directions to the state government to curb the incidents of mob lynching. In the circular, it is said all the District Police Chiefs are designated as nodal officers in their respective districts who shall be assisted by one DySP rank officer of the district nominated by the SP for taking measures to prevent incidents of mob violence and lynching till the state government makes specific designation in this regard. They shall constitute a ‘special task force’ so as to procure intelligence about the people likely to commit such crimes or who are involved in spreading hate speech, provocative statements and fake news.
Major guidelines
The nodal officer shall hold regular meetings (at least once a month) with the local intelligence units in the district along with all Station House Officers of the district so as to identify the existence of the tendencies of vigilantism, mob violence or lynching in the district and take steps to prohibit instances of dissemination of offensive material through different social media platforms or any other means for inciting such tendencies. The officer shall make efforts to eradicate hostile environment against any community or caste which is targeted in such incidents.
The nodal officers shall bring to the notice of the State Police Chief any inter-district co-ordination issues for devising a strategy to tackle lynching and mob violence-related issues at the state-level.
It shall be the duty of every police officer to cause a mob to disperse, by exercising his power under Section 129 of the CrPC 1973 which, in his opinion, has a tendency to cause violence or wreak havoc in the disguise of vigilantism or otherwise.
The District Police Chiefs shall direct police patrolling in the sensitive areas keeping in view the incidents of the past and the intelligence gathered at district level and ADGP (Intelligence) will do the same for the state. It means there should be seriousness in patrolling so the anti-social elements are discouraged and remain within the boundaries of law, fearing to even think of taking law into their hands.
The police shall register FIR under Section 153A of IPC and/or other relevant provisions of law against persons disseminating messages and videos having content which is likely to incite mob violence.