THESE DAYS AN agitation is going on in Pakistan’s Punjab province in connection with an alleged rape of a girl student in a private College
Two contrary versions have come out, the first that in fact there was a rape, and the second that it is fake news.
The father of the girl, the college administration, and the police deny there was any rape. The father of the girl has said his daughter slipped and fell inside their house, injuring her back, for which she had to be hospitalised.
The police have produced the medical certificate from the hospital where she is admitted, showing there was no rape.
It is possible they are not speaking the truth, and the evidence is concocted.. But at least this calls for an impartial and independent investigation.
But without such investigation many people, particularly students in Punjab, have in a fit of emotion, and without rational thinking, taken to the streets, presuming the first version to be correct.
The media, always looking for some ‘mirch masala’, is supporting them, shouting and screaming about this ‘atrocity’.
This reminds one of the Queen of Hearts in Lewis Carroll’s famous book ‘Alice in Wonderland’ who would shout ” Off with his head ” when anyone was brought before her. When people asked what about holding a trial before cutting off a man’s head, she would say ” Trial later, first off with his head “.
Similarly, these people want condemnation first, investigation later.
The students on the streets are behaving like the Roman mob aroused to a fury by Mark Antony’s famous speech ‘Friends Romans Countrymen’ after Caesar’s assassination ( in Shakespeare’s play ‘Julius Caesar’ ), which sought revenge against the conspirators.
One of the conspirators was a man named Cinna.
The mob caught hold of a man also named Cinna, but when he protested that he was Cinna the poet, not Cinna the conspirator, the mob shouted ” Hang him for his bad verses ‘ and lynched him.
This shows the mentality of a mob, which is emotional, not rational.
I regret to say that the students and the Pakistani media are behaving like the Queen of Hearts and the Roman mob. 
Markandey Katju
Justice Markandey Katju is former Judge, Supreme Court of India and former Chairman, Press Council of India.
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