We have voiced our concern over this particular kind of mob justice that is being meted out to the suspected pirates or jungle bandits. We emphasise, as we did in our earlier editorial, the point that such killings are legally and morally unacceptable.

It is not enough to say that the killers were aggrieved villagers who acted out of an urge to finish off a nagging menacethe presence of bandits. An accused has to be treated as being innocent until proven guilty. And an even bigger pitfall lies in the possibility of innocents being victimised in the anarchical situation that arises when an angry mob targets some people. Mob justice, under such circumstances, is very likely to deliver gross injustice only.

Since that is how most people look at the issue, the question arises as to why the police remained mute spectators to the killings. Were they overwhelmed or cowered by the mob? If so, they fell far short of performing their duty, which was to enforce the law, not allowing others to take it in their hands. It sent the signal that there was abdication of the law enforcement authority, involuntary though it might have been, that ultimately resulted in such a big number of deaths.

The char areas have become crime-prone because of lax administrative control due largely to the absence of physical facilities. The areas need a stronger administrative presence to ward off the threats that pirates and bandits pose to the local people. There is also the problem of bloody clashes among people over possession of new chars. Such accretions must be brought under land settlement to preclude the possibility of locals relying on muscle-power to grab land. It will also help development of more organised community life, a prerequisite for law and order, in the remote areas.