Mob lynching
Also called: Section 103(2) BNS · Topic: Justice Delivery: Subordinate Courts, Tribunals, Legal Aid and Judicial Reforms · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Mob lynching is murder committed by a group of five or more people acting together on grounds such as caste, community or personal belief. Section 103(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023 makes it a separate offence for the first time. It is punishable with death or life imprisonment. Before this, the old Indian Penal Code had no specific crime of lynching. The Supreme Court had earlier, in Tehseen Poonawalla (2018), asked for action against such mob violence.
Example
Suppose a crowd of five or more people beats a man to death because of his community. Every member of that crowd can be charged under Section 103(2) BNS and faces death or life imprisonment.
Don't confuse with
- Ordinary murder (s.103(1) BNS): this covers a killing by any person or persons. Section 103(2) applies only when five or more people act together on grounds such as caste, community or belief.
Related concepts
- Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023
- Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023
- Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023
- Malimath Committee
- Community service
- Trial in absentia
- Witness Protection Scheme 2018
- Public prosecutor
- Inter-operable Criminal Justice System