In most of the cases, the victims of lynching and hate crime belong to marginalised groups - Muslim, Adivasi, Dalit, Christian and others. Allegations of cow smuggling, beef eating and child-lifting make it more convenient to orchestrate lynching and mob violence. According to the data available, there has been an unprecedented surge in the number of lynchings and hate crimes. mid-day brings you various circumstances that lead to mob lynchings in India.

How technology is fuelling an already raging fire
1. Smartphones and social media
Social media platforms are the medium and vigilantism the message. Delivered by volatile crowds provoked to murderous rage, the all-too-frequent lynchings are being played in all their goriness within hours on smartphone screens across India. Affordable smartphones and the rapid spread of mobile internet have come together in recent months to lay bare the brutality of lynchings in chilling detail - savage mobs kicking and pummelling mercilessly, helpless victims cowering and begging for their lives, and then, their bloodied and broken bodies lying limp in the dirt.