Recently, a Muslim e-rickshaw driver was paraded through a street, assaulted and allegedly forced to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ by a group of men in Kanpur. The most disturbing part of the video shared widely over social media was his crying little daughter clinging to him and pleading desperately with the assailants to spare him. Later, as NDTV reported, a mob of Bajrang Dal workers held a protest outside the police station and left only after “assurances” from the police.
The accused were given bail immediately. The case against them was registered under Sections 147 (rioting; punishment two years), 323 (simple hurt; punishment one year), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace; punishment two years) and 506 (criminal intimidation; punishment two years) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). These are bailable sections and under the 2008 amendment to Section 41 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC ), arrest is not mandatory for offences involving less than seven years imprisonment. As such, the police was technically correct in giving bail to them.
The problem lies both with the law and the “selective” manner in which it is applied. The police did not think it proper to initiate proceedings against the mob under Section 107 of the CrPC (security for keeping peace) either. The drama of the SP visiting the girl’s home would never heal the scars.