Lynchings and violence in the name of cow must end: SC

A Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra on Wednesday said that lynchings and violence in the name of cow vigilantism must end and people shouldn’t be allowed to take law into their hands.

“Centre says there is a law in place. Then such incidents have to be curbed. People cannot be allowed to take law into their hands. This must stop. This is not permissible,” Justice Misra observed

The apex court was hearing a PIL filed by Tushar Gandhi, great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, seeking various reliefs, including a direction to all the governments to take preventive measures against cow vigilantism.

Senior advocate Indira Jaising, appearing for Gandhi, referred to various incidents of lynching and assault on the pretext that the victims were either carrying or in possession of beef or had eaten it.

The SC also directed all state governments to appoint a senior police officer as a nodal officer in each district to ensure that incidents of cow vigilantism are prevented and dealt with effectively.

The bench, also comprising Justices Amitava Roy and A M Khanwilkar, directed the chief secretaries of every state government to file a status report giving details of the actions taken to prevent incidents of cow vigilantism.

The bench asked the Centre to respond to the submission that it (Central government) could issue directions under Article 256 of the Constitution to all state governments on issues related to law and order.

Besides Gandhi, Congress leader Tehseen Poonawalla had earlier filed a similar petition on the issue.

(with PTI inputs)