Dynamics of Riots in India

[KRAIT]

Introduction

In a country like India, with such a huge diversity in the population on basis of various factors like religion, caste etc., criminal events like riots are bound to happen due to disputes among communities which have been living together for centuries and has been violent against each other at point of the time or other, in history.

Definition, Cause and Medium of Propagation of Riots

Riots are like very fast propagating Epidemic disease in a population living in a region which is :

caused by -


Trigger: Any sudden event or accident, Information (true or false) which can agitate people to cross their threshold of self-control. False rumors in many cases. As riots progresses, the information of violence itself become a trigger.

carried by - communication medium like news channels, print media and word of mouth communications among people propagating with physical movement of rioters informing people by face to face conversation, using loud speakers or via communication devices like Mobile, Internet etc.

Dynamics, Behavior and Characteristics

The trigger which may be based on any isolated incident which may include hate crimes committed by one community against other, infects the people of one community as they receive this information and they may decide to become violent.

Hence they may start targeting the population of other community mentioned in the trigger. This target population is called susceptible. The susceptible may have received this trigger and information about approaching infected violent people.

If susceptible become aware earlier about coming danger, they can take steps to protect themselves. But this itself is a challenge as people don't expect such type of sudden attack and our administration structure is not that efficient in swift actions to stop spread of information and quick disposal of security forces . A common man doesn't expect that few people will suddenly come at his doorsteps with swords, petrol etc. and vengeance in their eyes with intentions to kill him and his family.

A mob often become much more violent and more heinous crimes happen as people get into frenzy seeing each other committing violence together.

One should keep an important factor in mind that as the trigger rumor or information of riots spreads, population of susceptible and infected also increase at much faster rate.

To make a recovered or immune section from riots, more number of susceptible population as to be brought under the protection of security forces from rioters .

To achieve this, government needs a considerable number of security personals with proper riots control equipment, who can do their duty of protecting all sections of people, no matter which community they belong to irrespective of their reaction towards emotional condition prevailing in the society affect by riots.

To understand the emotional dynamics in riots, one should consider emotions of rioters along with that of Security personals as it directly affects the efficiency and willingness of these personals to protect the susceptible and stop the infected.

We can't ignore the emotional aspect and human factor of decision making of Security forces in the riots.

Also, to control the riots in minimum time period with minimum casualties, high efficiency and swift deployment of Security forces is needed.


Conclusion

In case of riots in India, especially in regions which has bloody history of communal riots backing decades or centuries ago, all these factors should be considered. This helps us in rational, unbiased and logical understanding of emotional crimes.

This in turns helps in quantifying and measuring various aspects of spread of riots in the region.

Efficiency of various governmental measures by studying the previous riots can help us in determining better strategies to control riots, important areas to invest in resources required t
o handle the riots and to save valuable lives, property and last but not the least, national honor.

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Disclaimer : The thoughts are of author. Any suggestion/comments should be directed to the author. No insults or personal attacks.

 

[xTra]

@KRAIT

Since I myself has witnessed Mumbai Riots of 92, I would like to add few things:

- Riots takes place mostly in area were both Hindu and Muslim communities are equal. (50-50 or 60-40 and vice versa)

- No riots where either Hindus are minimal or Muslim are minimal.

Thanks

 

[Cherokee]

@KRAIT

Since I myself has witnessed Mumbai Riots of 92, I would like to add few things:

- Riots takes place mostly in area were both Hindu and Muslim communities are equal. (50-50 or 60-40 and vice versa)

- No riots where either Hindus are minimal or Muslim are minimal.

Thanks

I agee but thats logical . Anything else would come under category of "massacre" .

 

[KRAIT]

Kindly post more points to make case wise study.

@xTra Thanks for your inputs.

 

[haman10]

Since I myself has witnessed Mumbai Riots of 92, I would like to add few things:

- Riots takes place mostly in area were both Hindu and Muslim communities are equal. (50-50 or 60-40 and vice versa)

- No riots where either Hindus are minimal or Muslim are minimal.

Thanks

so u are implying that hindus and muslims are somehow incompatible ?

and why is that ?

IMHO , i doubt that the incompatibilty has anything to do that sir , muslims and hindus have shown they can live peacefuly among eachother .

but thats my idea , maybe an un-informed one too .....

 

[janon]

so u are implying that hindus and muslims are somehow incompatible ?

and why is that ?

IMHO , i doubt that the incompatibilty has anything to do that sir , muslims and hindus have shown they can live peacefuly among eachother .

but thats my idea , maybe an un-informed one too .....

It's not that wherever equal number of hindus and muslims are present, riots happen. If that was the case, then your conclusion is valid.

It's that for riots to happen, there have to be roughly equal numbers.

In other words, it is a necessary, but not sufficient condition.

In general -
People have to understand one thing. That riots in India are seldom becaues of theological differences like which god is real or whether we should pray to allah or krishna and so on. It is a social phenomenon - in many places, hindus and muslims live in the same region, but in separate areas, and with separate cultures. And hostilities erupt between these communities. That's why these are properly called 'communal riots', not religious riots.

Anyway, if I may venture on a limb, I would predict that the days of large scale riots in India are over. Mumbai '92 or Gujarat 2002 will not happen again. Only smaller ones like the muzzafarnagar clashes recently. Because of urbanization and changing social structures, religious identities are no longer than important for communities these days. Besides, society as a whole matured in this regard after the 2002 riots. The whole nation collectively said 'Never again'.