New Delhi, June 4 -- Lynching is thought to have originated as a term sometime in the 1700s. The word conjures up an evil of the past, barbaric and unthinkable in a modern civilised society. It is, therefore, especially alarming that the term, and practice, has seen a resurgence in India over the past decade or so. This is tied to a related problem, the proliferation of fake news, willful and otherwise, through WhatsApp and other media in the country. Just search for 'lynch mob' and 'WhatsApp'-the majority of results are cases from India.

Only a handful of Hindi films have addressed the modern face of lynchings. In Mukkabaaz (2018) and Afwaah (2023), vigilante groups attack a Dalit and a Muslim character respectively, who are badly injur...