An Analysis of Walter Clark's 'The Ox-Bow Incident' in Context of 21st Century India

ABSTRACT: -

This paper aims to point out a legal issue in the book The Ox- Bow Incident. This is a 1940 classic written by Walter Van Tilburg Clark. Van was an American novelist, short- story writer and educator. As a writer he taught himself to use familiar materials of the western saga to explore human psyche and to raise deep philosophical issues. This book mainly deals with the issue of mob lynching and how justice is twisted the way the people in power want. This paper also mainly focuses on the issue of mob lynching and how it is degrading the judicial systems across the world including our very own country India. The detailed meaning of lynching will be explained in this paper. The main types of lynching along with live Indian scenarios as examples shall be provided. Then why mob lynching is a legal issue shall be described. Two Indian case laws shall be given as examples to substantiate its legal standing and its link with the classic. By the end of this paper one shall be able to understand what exactly mob lynching is and why it needs urgent attention of curbing it down and also its connection to the book The Ox- Bow Incident.

INTRODUCTION: -

The story revolves around Gill Carter and his acquaintance Art Croft who cluster into a small town on the plains of Nevada in the year 1885. This place was under a lot of turbulence because of numerous incidents of cattle rustling. Upon their arrival they found out that a local rancher has been murdered and his herd was abducted. Since the sheriff of in charge of that place was out of town and hid deputy took the responsibility to catch hold of the murderers. In order to do so he forms a posse, Gill and Art joins the posse to avoid being suspected of the crime. On investigation the posse finds three men who are in possession of the herd. The men say that they purchased the herd legally but failed to provide any proof for the same. A debate takes place between the men of the posse as to whether these three men are to be taken alive for a trial or to lynch them right there. The majority votes for lynching the men. The three men are then lynched by the posse and killed without an opportunity to prove their innocence. Then the posse returns to the town and finds out that the murder had not at all been committed and that the rancher was injured a bit and the culprits behind this were also put behind bars. The ongoing realisation that three innocent men had been put to death leads to deadly consequences.

LEGAL ISSUE THAT CAN BE TRACED IN THE BOOK: -

The Ox- Bow Incident is basically a book that portrays the incidents of confined life and mob violence in the American West. The readers are forced to think about their actual views on justice and how one can differentiate between good and bad in the society. But the major legal issue that can be traced here is Lynching. Lynching is a form of an extrajudicial punishment by an informal group. It is most of the times used to characterize informal public executions by a mob to punish an alleged transgressor or an intimidate group. Lynchings have been very prevalent these days in the times of social, political and economical crisis, a lot of such instances can be read in the newspapers every day. It has been a tool for the dominant group to supress the challengers who do not think in the same lines and try to question them.

HISTORY OF LYNCHING: -

The history of lynching can be linked back to countries like Germany and England. The Fehmic Courts that existed in the medieval period in Germany gave out punishments for certain crimes that involved lynching. The Halifax Gibbet law that involved execution of those charged for theft above a certain amount and Cowper Justice that means execution after trial both had lynching as the punishments in England. Similar was the case with Santa Hrmadad in medieval Spain, Poland and Russia that legally had brought in the concept of lynching in their judicial systems. The main reason why people opted for vigilante justice is because to fill the void of the presence of and institutional justice system and in some cases the incapability of the judiciary to provide proper in time justice. Lynching was more prominent in the United States during the Civil Rights Movement where labourers and advocates who rose their voice were publicly threatened and lynched.

TYPES OF LYNCHING

Mentioned below are the main types of lynching based on the motive: -

Caste and Religion motivated: In present times lynching majorly takes place due to caste and religion prejudices that exists in the society. When a set of people in the society see the other minority set of people as threat to the society or their own caste and religion, they try to supress these people by lynching them. This type of lynching can be seen most in India which calls itself to be secular. The rivalry between the Hindus and the Muslims are never ending. An example of the same is the 1949 Ayodhya riot.

Economic and Political motivated: Economically and Politically motivated lynches are the most aggressive and passive ones. There lies a hidden political agenda and a politician behind it and make it seem like just a normal lynch. Politicians try to impose their unpractical political ideologies and agendas on people and when a set of people disagree with it and question it, then they are lynched by a mob and their voice is suppressed. The current example that is burning in the Indian political system is the protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act, whoever raises their voice against this are seen being publicly lynched.

Mob Justice: The main reason of mob justice is because people lack the legal knowledge and consequences and also slow process of legal mechanism. People are led to thinking that justice can be done when the law is taken into ones’ own hands. The accused is not even given an opportunity to prove his innocence and actions. For example, in June 2017 two people were mob lynched because they were accused of child lifting and were not even given a chance to be tried.

WHY IS LYNCHING A LEGAL ISSUE?

Lynching is an ongoing legal issue in many countries especially in India because it a black point on the judiciary system. It tries to point out that the judiciary system is incapable of delivering justice. People who have zero knowledge of laws take power into their own hands just on the say of someone in power. Due this a lot of innocent people have lost their lives and families. Lynching also leads to communal violence and usually is a result of racial and other social discrimination. It is important to impart knowledge to people that all of them come under law and no one has the right to reign it. It is important for people to know that justice can’t be twisted the way they want. Mob Lynching loosens the power of Constitution over people.

CASE LAWS TO SUBSTANTIATE LYNCHING: -

1. Tehseen S Poonavala and others V. Union of India: This landmark judgement was given by a three-bench judge in 2017 consisting of Deepak Misra. AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud. In this case the SC advised the Parliament to make laws to prevent Lynching. It said that: “fear of law and veneration for the command of law constitute the foundation of a civilised society. This writ petition was tried under Article 32 of the Constitution to take immediate actions against cow protection groups indulging in violence.

2. Krishnamoorthy V. Sivakumar and others: In this case the SC stated that “the law is the mightiest sovereign in a civilized society. The majesty of law cannot be sullied simply because an individual or a group generate the attitude that they have been empowered by principles set out in law to take its enforcement into their own hands and gradually become law unto themselves and punish the violator on their own assumption and in a manner they deem fit.”

In both these cases we can see that how truth and justice is silenced and the accused are not given an opportunity to explain themselves just like in the book Ox- Bow Incident where the three accused are mob lynched and how these people who lynched them are not even held guilty. How justice is changed the way the person in power wants it to.

CONCLUSION: -

The book The Ox- Bow Incident is a classic that deals with the issue of lynching. The book is a 1940’s classic and this proves the fact that lynching was and is still a problem in the society that is leading to social and communal destruction and this needs to curbed as soon as possible. One astonishing fact that is to be noticed here is that India does not have any strict legislations to prevent lynching despite the fact that the SC has ordered the parliament to come up with a legislation for the same there are no steps taken yet. Lynching has taken away several innocent lives and families and led to caste and political prejudices and its time to bring a stop for the same and to let justice take its course.