A Letter for Prometheus
Two reports of mob lynching of two Ashrafs–one Ashraf in Patoki and another Ashraf in Gujranwala, within less than three months, remind me of several mob lynching and mob justice cases and the smooth acquittal of a majority of accused. From the Mashaal Khan case to the Sialkot lynching of a Sri Lankan engineer, the death sentence are handed to less than six accused while electronic evidence (videos and so on) showed over one hundred persons were involved in these two separate brutal crimes.
On March 21, one Mohammad Ashraf known as Ashraf Papparwala (Rice cracker vendor) had an argument with guests at a wedding ceremony in Pattoki and he was lynched to death inside the marriage hall. The guests-cum-killers enjoyed their lunch after killing him and placing his dead body at the corner of the hall where they were enjoying their wedding event. The incident came to the limelight when footage, allegedly showing Ashraf’s body near an apathetic crowd that continued eating at the wedding, went viral on social media and aroused public anger at the callousness on display. I fear the fate of killers would not be different than of the Mashaal Khan case or the Sialkot lynching case.
We also remember that two real brothers were lynched in Sialkot in 2010 and the gory incident continued for several hours and their dead bodies were also beaten up.
Life goes on, so does the brutality. On May 30, Muhammad Ashraf known as Ashraf Kabaria (Junkman) died in police custody after a violent mob tortured him for allegedly stealing a motorbike. The video of the incident shows a violent mob brutally torturing Ashraf before handing him over to the police. The police, in spite of taking him to the hospital for medical aid, took him to the police station where he succumbed to his wounds.
The first case of mob lynching I covered was of Master Aslam in Gujranwala where a teacher was lynched to death in front of his seven-year-old daughter and his wife within minutes. Killers tried to make the case a blasphemy issue but the circumstantial evidence I collected were enough to understand that it was a personal vendetta and it was a sheer case of brutal killing but painted as a religious issue. Years after, the court also confirmed the credibility of my investigation. Even in this case in which over 100 persons lynched Aslam to death, only four accused were penalized and I do not remember what was the ultimate end of the case and whether anyone was hanged in this case or not.
Mob justice and mob lynching have been an important issue for writers to comment and for psychologists to find out what kind of state of mind triggers such horrific incidents. Sociologists, anthropologists, and psychologists link such behaviour with animal instincts we all possess on a different level.
A motivated crowd is impulsive and has lost the capacity to reason and indulges in a primitive, animal-like state of mind. Therefore, we can say that in the majority of cases of attacking state property or lynching a man, there is at least one “instigator” who is not part of the crowd.
There are many popular viewpoints explaining mob justice and mob lynching. The majority of us believe that aggression that comes from inequality in society, lack of education, disbelief in social norms and ethics, mistrust of the judicial system, and desire to do something good against bad are some of the main components that can be further expanded. I would not comment on the above-mentioned possible reasons that may trigger mob justice or mob lynching. We know mob lynching had been popular even in developed societies of North America and Europe and the 1960s was a shocking era when we document mob lynching in Europe and the United Kingdom. I read several pieces of research and academic papers to understand the mob lynching phenomenon after the Sialkot lynching as a student of social sciences because I left that lynching takes place when a large size mob gathers. Is it the “Mob Superiority” behind to act anything wishes to? Somehow or other the answer is Yes. We usually watch a large-scale protest scene where the mob can remove barricades and even remove huge containers on its way and stand against tear gas or water cannons for several hours. However, when the size of the mob starts shrinking, aggression goes down because “Mob Superiority” is lost and then intelligent riot police start action against scattered smaller groups. Riot police charges them in a form of a bigger mob than the protestors having its own “Mob Superiority”.
One of the most interesting research I read about Mob Superiority is the work of Stuart Stevenson published in February 2021. His paper “The psychodynamics of lynch mobs: Grouping, ganging or lynching” helps us to understand the “mob mentality” and the method of force that is as old as humanity, and the group dynamics that ‘harnesses the mob’.
He believes that the group phenomenon that drives a lynching is the product of an extremely complex combination of external and internal events. Moreover “Mob Superiority” instantly brings “Moral Superiority” and the mob believes that whatever it is doing is morally right. This state of mind provides moral justification for the assault or murder of an individual who is identified as belonging to one group— usually a marginalized, weak and resource-less, or hated group— by a group of individuals or a gang who belong to, or represent, another group and who believe they have an unofficial mandate to exact justice. This ‘justice’ can go as far as a public execution.
Though the work of Stuart Stevenson is interesting and useful for an understanding of mob justice I would prefer to include the work of Charles-Marie Gustave Le Bon (May 1841 – December 1931) for getting a deep understanding of the psyche of the Mob or Crowd.
His work “The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind” published in 1895 is still considered by researchers as one of the best pieces on “Crowd psychology”.
He believes that any large group of people develops a focus as a “crowd” when all those involved accept one dominant idea and if they have a common goal, the stage is set for the crowd to act. The common goal can be anything– lynching someone or removing barricades from their way to attack any building. There is a catch in his work also that needs to be taken into account when someone is working to review any act conducted by the mob. Gustave believes that the influential ideas that motivated a crowd to act never emerge from within the crowd but come from an external source. This “someone” I can call “instigator”. He believes thata motivated crowd is impulsive and has lost the capacity to reason and indulges in a primitive, animal-like state of mind. Therefore, we can say that in the majority of cases of attacking state property or lynching a man, there is at least one “instigator” who is not part of the crowd.
I am not saying that Gustave’s theory is the ultimate one because several theories of crowd behaviour have come after Gustave’s work and some sociologists and psychologists today believe that individuals in a crowd are very aware of their actions. It is the power of being part of a group with which they identify and an awareness of the power the mass of individuals can exert that inspires them to action. However, all new theories do not rule out the possibility of an instigator triggering the situation from the outside of the group.
The lynching of a human is the cruelest and most painful act we observe in the 21st century but the reality is that the animal instinct of human lives inside him– always and everywhere!
“Friends, be men. Let sense of shame from all men
Homer—Iliad
