The Supreme Court on Tuesday disposed of a public interest litigation raising concerns about incidents of mob violence and lynching in the country, saying it cannot “micromanage” such cases from Delhi, Bar and Bench reported.

A bench of Justices BR Gavai and K Vinod Chandran was hearing a petition filed by the National Federation of Indian Women on such incidents, specifically by cow vigilantes in the name of protecting cows from smuggling and slaughter.

“Even in the demolition matter, we gave liberty for parties to move competent authorities,” Bar and Bench quoted Gavai as saying. “Every state will have a different situation... In some states, beef [consumption] is a regular sort of.…”

The judge was referring to a batch of petitions seeking the intervention of the court against punitive demolitions by state governments. In November, the court had issued guidelines to curb instances of “bulldozer justice”, or punitive demolitions of property.

On Tuesday, the bench noted that it had already issued detailed guidelines against incidents of mob lynching in its 2016 verdict on two petitions against such offences.

These directions are binding on all authorities, the court said, adding that those aggrieved have legal remedies if the guidelines are flouted.

“However, sitting in Delhi, we cannot monitor issues in different areas of the country and in our view such micromanagement by this court will not be feasible,” the bench said. “If any person is aggrieved, competent court can be approached in accordance with law.”

The bench also refused to examine the validity of cow protection laws introduced in various states, Bar and Bench reported. “In a generic plea, it will not be correct for this court to test validity of 13 different state laws,” the court said. “Thus, the specific high court needs to be approached.”

During the hearing, advocate Nizamuddin Pasha, representing the National Federation of Indian Women, said that the earlier directions issued by the court against mob lynchings were brazenly being flouted.

He added that this was occurring particularly with the introduction of cow protection laws in certain states, which have in turn led to mob lynchings by cow vigilantes.

“When private individuals are given police powers to seize vehicles and nab people for cattle smuggling...This is how police powers are given to private agencies,” he said. “Attitude of state machinery needs to be looked at and see how brazen it is. Some kind of oversight from this court will help. Thirteen states follow this rule.”

However, the court said that challenges against such legislation could be taken up in the appropriate courts in each state. “Ultimately, incidents which are criminal acts, it is the duty of state to ensure that it does not happen and prosecute,” it said. “Can this court look at individual cases?”

In reply, Pasha told the bench that authorities in certain states themselves often declined to file criminal cases against the perpetrators of such acts. “There is pattern emerging across states,” he added.

“Should we decide now based on patterns?” Gavai asked, asking further if the advocate was representing any victim of such incidents.

Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, for the Union government, also told the bench that there was a law under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita that punished mob lynching.

The court also said that it cannot set uniform criteria for granting compensation to victims of mob lynching, as the amount ought to be decided on a case-to-case basis.

“As to what should be the adequate compensation in cases of mob lynching will differ case to case and no uniform directions can be issued,” the court said. “Doing so will mean doing away with discretion available to authorities or courts.”