The past week has seen several horrific incidents of mob violence, highlighting the need to curb vigilantism and violence in our society. The country had not recovered from the shock and tragedy of the Sialkot incident, when another video made the rounds of social media, of four women allegedly being stripped and beaten by crowds of men in Faisalabad.

After the expression of outrage by civil society on the circulation of the video, the police acted quickly and arrested five men on charges of assaulting, stripping and filming the women in Faisalabad’s Bawa Chak Market. What the true facts are, and how the incident transpired, is now in the hands of the police and it is trusted that their investigation will get to the bottom of this unfortunate event.

However, aside from the investigation, what cannot be denied is that there was an element of vigilantism and violence conducted by the men who carried out the horrific violence on the women. It must be questioned why the alleged culprits did not report to law enforcement and trust the process to carry out investigation, instead of taking the law into their hands. This phenomena, of resorting to mob justice, which in most cases results in humanely, must be analysed and countered in our society.

Whether the victims committed a crime or not, the more mob violence and vigilante justice is neglected, the more this will escalate into a culture of savagery, cruelty and lawlessness. We remember all too well the attack on a woman in Malir court by groups of male lawyers. The Minar-e-Pakistan incident was also an indication of this unacceptable mindset. The Sialkot incident and the brutal treatment meted out by a mob is still fresh on our minds. This is becoming a watershed moment for us to take action on violence of many forms within society, but only if we act now.