NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday, in its order, refused to entertain a plea seeking a number of directions for preventive, remedial, and punitive measures to deal with offences like mob violence and cow vigilantism, after noting that it was not feasible to micro-manage cases of mob lynching while sitting in Delhi.
"Sitting here in Delhi, we can't monitor the incidents occurring in different areas in different states of the country. In our view, such micro-management by this court would not be feasible," said a two-judge bench of the apex court, led by Justice B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran.
While disposing of a plea filed by the petitioner, National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW), the apex court pointed out that such pleas should be challenged before the appropriate court in each state.
The apex court, while referring to its 2018 verdict, said that ultimately, incidents which are criminal acts are the duty of the state to prevent and prosecute. "Can this Court look at individual cases?" the court pointed out.
Lawyer Nizamuddin Pasha, appearing for NFIW, argued that the court's earlier directions in this regard were brazenly flouted, particularly with the introduction of cow protection laws in certain states, which have led to mob lynchings by 'cow vigilantes.'
"The attitude of the state machinery needs to be looked at to see how brazen it is. Some kind of oversight from this court will help," Pasha argued.
He submitted that state authorities themselves often refuse to register criminal cases against the perpetrators of such acts.
The Solicitor General, Tushar Mehta, senior law officer for the Centre, said that if there was a violation, the law would take its own course.
Under BNSS (Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita), mob lynching is a separate offense. People keep filing different applications. Only the Tehseen Poonawalla verdict of the apex court needs to be complied with.