Bhubaneswar: The city police did not apply the newly introduced ‘mob lynching’ provision of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) in the FIR concerning the murder of railway constable Soumya Ranjan Swain. Instead, the Balianta police registered the case under the general category of murder, despite the BNS creating a distinct Section 103(2) specifically for mob lynching.When asked, police officers stated that the complaint filed by the victim’s family did not indicate any of the motives that fall under the criteria required for applying the mob lynching provision in the FIR. According to the complaint lodged by Swain’s father, Dhusasana Swain, a group of people beat his son to death following a road accident involving the scooter of two women on May 7.“Section 103(2) applies when five or more persons commit murder on grounds such as race, caste, community, sex, place of birth, language, personal belief or similar grounds. Since the family’s complaint did not suggest any such motive, we categorised the incident as a standard murder case under Section 103(1),” a senior officer explained.“Just a group of men killing someone is not mob lynching under the BNS definition. The motive should be linked to race, caste, community, sex, place of birth, language and personal belief. Else, this will not stand in court during trial,” the officer added.DCP Jagmohan Meena clarified: “Though the standard murder Section 103(1) was initially applied, the mob lynching provision can be added later at the charge-sheet stage.”The state crime branch, which has taken over the probe, said it may invoke Section 103(2) if evidence points to motives covered under the BNS definition. “Our investigation has just begun. If the motive aligns with the definition, we will certainly add the mob lynching section,” DIG (crime branch) B Gangadhar said.Senior lawyer Debasis Das said that while murder and mob lynching are distinct offences, they carry the same punishment — either death or life imprisonment. “The purpose of introducing the mob lynching section was to curb violence linked to religion, caste and gender,” he added.Similarly, Section 117(4) addresses grievous hurt caused by mob violence, prescribing imprisonment of up to seven years along with a fine, Das said.
