SC refuses urgent hearing on contempt plea over mob lynching

New Delhi:  The Supreme Court on Thursday refused urgent hearing on a plea seeking to initiate contempt of court proceedings against some states for violating court directives in mob lynching cases.

The ruling by an SC bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi came after a lawyer sought urgent hearing on contempt proceedings against some states for non-compliance of the apex court’s order. The lawyer also said that such incidents were on a rise, but the the bench refused early hearing on the plea.

In July last year, the top court had condemned mob lynching incidents and suggested the enactment of a law in the Parliament to deal with the crime.

“Horrendous acts of mobocracy” cannot be permitted to become “a new normal”, it had said while issuing a slew of guidelines, including preventive, remedial and punitive steps, to deal with offences such as mob violence and cow vigilantism.