Mob lynching: Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra says People should not Blatantly Rely on Social Media

On Tuesday, the Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra said that there was an increase in mob lynching incidents because of fake messages in social and urged citizens to not fall prey to rumors.

According to Bar and Bench, Misra said that the blatant dependency on social media needs to be verified by the citizens themselves to maintain peace and order in the society. In a function, which was organized by the International Law Association in Delhi, Misra was delivering the presidential address, where he said not to misunderstand him because he authored the judgment. He also stated that there is a recent surge in the mob lynching acts based on the viral messages on social media which lead to mobocracy and loss of life in certain cases.

Misra also said that before relying and acting upon information, people should be more responsible and filter the information to ensure a fair trial. He said that a sense of responsibility and maturity must be developed by the Indian media houses and they must introspect, according to PTI.

He also stressed the fact that freedom of the press is the “mother of all liberties” and that media should have their own guidelines for self-regulation in a democratic society. He said that he firmly believes that there should be no guidelines [for the media]. For individual and collective guidelines of the press, nothing can serve better. There should be no imposition, but at the same time, there should be some kind of self-restriction.