​Inglorious retreat: on the Supreme Court and cow vigilantism

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The Supreme Court of India has washed its hands of the responsibility to enforce its own guidelines of 2018 to prevent and punish mob violence in the name of cow protection. The trajectory of this case over the years had foretold this outcome, and fits within a disturbing pattern of judicial diffidence in the face of majoritarian politics. On February 23, the Chief Justice of India (CJI), Justice Surya Kant, observed that the “general directions” issued by the Court in a 2018 judgment to the Centre and States to prevent and prosecute cow vigilantism and mobocracy were “unmanageable”. The CJI favoured an approach of taking up each crime on its singular facts and merits, and went on to add that if someone’s rights are infringed, they could seek legal recourse. Petitioners had sought contempt proceedings against States that have refused to implement preventive, punitive and remedial measures against cow vigilantism. In 2018, a Bench headed by then CJI Dipak Mishra had expressed shock and dismay over the spate of violence perpetrated by cow protection gangs. The Court had observed that lynching “must be curbed and crippled”, stressing that the state has a “sacrosanct duty” to protect citizens. The 2018 guidelines assumed the Court would remain a watchdog, but what followed was a gradual, but unmistakable, judicial retreat that now appears final with the pronouncement of the CJI.

In a situation of perfect rule of law, there is no reason for the highest court of the land to be directly involved in monitoring policing. Any police force acting in fidelity to the law would curb and bring to justice acts of violence. That citizens had to seek the intervention of the Supreme Court for what should be a routine police function was itself revealing, and the 2018 judgment reflected that awareness. Since 2018, cow vigilantism has grown more monstrous, while the police and State governments, in many places, overlook or even encourage mob violence in the name of cow protection. In several States, cow vigilantes have been accorded legal sanctity and quasi-policing powers in blatant violation of the Court’s guidelines. The Court earlier refused to entertain a special challenge to such empowerment of mobs, asking petitioners instead to file individual petitions in High Courts. Several Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled States have not only refused to implement the Court’s directives but have also moved in the opposite direction by enabling vigilantism. Vigilante violence continues unabated, with the police looking away — or worse, turning against the victim. It will be a severe blow to the rule of law if the Court sticks to the view that it has no reason or intent to uphold its own directives.