Editor’s Note: Impunity for the state means impunity for the mobs

To replace a slow-paced and seriously flawed judicial system with “instant” justice via vigilantism is to stare into the abyss of anarchy. But if restoring law and order is to be defined simply as upping state terror to match criminal terror, one might as well dismantle the courts. That the judicial system is glacial in pace and seriously flawed is well known but to replace it with “instant” justice via vigilantism is to stare into the abyss of anarchy. As Justice S. Muralidhar said in a 2018 talk, “The more the state itself indulges in lawlessness, the message goes out to vigilante mobs that they can outdo the state.” Thus, impunity for the state translates into impunity for the mobs.