It is really shocking that people at times cross the thin line between what is legal and what is not as one can consider the case of an alleged ornament snatcher who was caught and publicly shamed by the locals in Jammu City’s Link Road area after he snatched ear rings of a woman.
The video of this snatcher, who was half-shaven with both his head hair and moustaches removed partially by the people as a punishment went viral on social media as several local news portals covered the incident extensively.
Although at the first sight, it seems to be the right action by the people to shame the accused person in the aforesaid manner but it is not, as people have no right to do justice in this manner. There is police and the courts in the country which are supposed to take the appropriate action to decide who is guilty and who is not, and also the right quantum of punishment as per the law of the land for such cases.
It is pertinent to mention that in the month of March, this year, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has asserted that the act of hanging placards around the necks of alleged thieves, blackening their faces, parading them in public and making their video viral amounted to a “Taliban-style punishment”. The assertion came as a Bench of the aforementioned court dismissed the anticipatory bail plea of Ludhiana factory owner, who was facing allegations of subjecting his employees, including minors and women, to public humiliation over alleged theft of clothes.
The people taking the law in their own hands in such cases and not realising that such an act may affect and tarnish the social image of the victims, who have not been convicted yet by any court is morally wrong and unacceptable. Even the local news portals should have shown some restraint while covering such incidents as public shaming anyone is not the right thing and they should have not shown the face of the accused even if his misdemeanour was proven beyond doubt.
It is however the right thing that the locals have taken the alleged ornament snatcher to the concerned police station for legal action, as that was the right course of action in such cases.
