In Kerala, a tribal man of 27 named Madhu was lynched publicly because he stole rice. The man was beaten up by people and he succumbed to death very soon. The ordeal that this tribal man had gone through is very heart-shattering. Why on the earth the human beings are lynched to openly and so publicly. It is sickening and it is sad.

The cases of lynching are reported from the state of Jharkhand and from other parts of our country and it has become normal for the people to bear these brutalities, the brutalities that are like worst crimes against humanity. Why is the Indian consciousness remain unshaken even when people saw the photos and videos of the pains that the human beings have gone through when they are killed? This is a big question that needs to be answered.

There are two types of lynchings in India: direct lynching when the people are killed brutally and there are indirect lynchings when the people are killed indirectly through the gross discrimination based on the caste system and ugly and inhuman practice of untouchability. How long will this continue no one knows. But what should take place is the resistance and resistance at all levels in the society. The framework that leads to lynchings is backed by wealth, religion and the power that is an outcome of the wealth and religion and hence it is very difficult to fight these forces.

The incidence of Kerala, and then the incidence in Lakhimpur Kheri where a Dalit boy is murdered along with his mother and another incidence from UP where a young girl is raped and burnt are just the tip of the big iceberg of the discrimination that continues to haunt the people in India. The silence of the media, the silence of the Government, and the silence of the world communities is deafening.

Why are the people lynched in India?

Indian society does not respect the human existence and the society ridden with the caste mentality and caste structure does not let the so-called upper castes in India to treat other human beings as the human beings. The experiences of the blacks when they travel in India are very sad stories of humiliation. Indian society remains violent and inhuman in its core, the result is people do not value life and basic humanity and that is why there is no shame, no fear, no basic compassion that drives people to save the life instead of destroying it. It is the problem of Indian psyche which is inhuman and deeply violent and supported by religion.

Author – Mangesh Dahiwale

[irp]