Lynch Files: The Forgotten Saga of Victims of Hate Crime

Mohammed Akhlaq and Rakbar lynched in the name of cow protection. Chimma, a Dalit, lynched by the mob for entering a Hindu temple. In the recent years, the cases of mob lynching of Muslims and Dalits have increased to an alarming extent. These cases are discarded and forgotten without any justice served to the victims. The emergence of mobocracy from the roots of Hindutva and gau rakshaks has put India’s secularity and democratic constitution to test. Lynch Files pieces together the tragic stories of the people at the receiving end of mob violence and looks inside the mind of the lynchers who flout laws with impunity. Further, the book discusses the Supreme Court judgement against lynching and tries to restore faith in the court’s capacity to curb this violence.