They say justice delayed is justice denied. While that has turned out to be true in many cases, there have been times when angry citizens have tried to take justice into their own hands and things turned ugly.
A criminal must NOT go unpunished, but at the same time, only law can decide his/her fate. Nobody else.
It is wrong for a criminal to walk free, but it is even worse when an innocent is punished for no fault.
Sometimes people just assume that the accused is guilty and take control. These tragic cases prove why it’s wrong to take justice into our own hands:
1. Dimapur Mob Lynching case
A mob of about 7000 people broke into a prison, dragged a rape accused and beat him to death. Investigation of a CCTV footage showed the girl entering and leaving the room with the accused. It was proved that the woman falsely accused the man for rape, for something which was a consensual sex for ₹5000.
2. The 13 year old boy who got killed for eve-teasing
13 year-old Kiran Goraksh Sonawane, was killed by his classmates inside the school premises because he stared at a girl. His face was smashed against a bench and then against a tree.
3. Woman killed in Kabul for allegedly burning Quran pages
A woman in Koran was killed for allegedly burning pages from The Quran. The woman’s body was s et on fire and thrown in the river. The video of her burning was all over the internet. On investigation, no evidences of burning the Quran pages were found.
4. 16 year old girl burnt to death by vigilante group in Guatemala
A 16-year-old girl was beaten up and burnt alive by a group of vigilante in Guatemala. The victim was accused of killing a 68-year-old taxi driver. She was caught by the mob while trying to flee from the spot.
5. The girl who beat up an eve-teaser in the police station
Recently, this girl was in news for beating up an eve-teaser in the police station where the police filmed her beating the guy. Some might say that the man deserved it, but was what she did lawful?
6. Dalit people killed in Khairlanji Massacre in Maharashtra in 2006
In 2006, 4 people were slaughtered in the small village called Bhandara in the state of Maharashtra . Dalit members were killed by the members of a caste called Kunbi , which was a dominant in this case . The women of the Dalit family were paraded naked in public before being murdered. The Bhandara Court held 8 people guilty of murder and acquitted 3.
7. 200 women killed rapist Akku Yadav with knives, stones and chilli powder
An alleged rapist and murderer Akku Yadav was killed by a mob of 200 women who marched towards the Nagpur District Court. The women were armed with weapons like knives, stones and red chilli and they killed the man in a matter of minutes.
8. Neighbours tried to scare away the pedophile in their town by setting his house on fire
In 2007, Timothy Chandler was arrested for child pornography. Angry neighbours set Chandler’s house on fire which killed his wife.