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Centre will bring law against lynchings if needed: Rajnath Singh tells Parliament
Home minister Rajnath Singh said the government has formed a panel that would suggest measures to stop mob violence in the country.
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Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said the central government is taking the incidents of mob lynching “very seriously” and might bring a law, if necessary, to stop these.
Singh was responding to the Opposition’s outcry in the Lok Sabha following the latest in a series of incidents of mob lynching in recent past, in which a Muslim man was killed in Rajasthan’s Alwar district over claims that he was smuggling two cows to his native place in Haryana.
Victim Rakbar Khan’s family has said they are milk traders.
During the debate on the issue of lynchings in the Lok Sabha, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge demanded that a sitting Supreme Court judge conduct the inquiry into such incidents and take action.
Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandopadhyay said mob lynchings were creating an alarming situation in the country. Deputy Speaker and AIADMK leader M Thambidurai urged the Centre to come forward and stop such incidents.
“Why is this (lynchings) happening? What is intelligence doing?... What is the role of the Centre,” he asked.
CPI(M) member Mohammed Salim said a lot of hatred was being spread in the country through such incidents, as he took a swipe at the government by citing various instances, including the recent attack on Swami Agnivesh in Jharkhand.
Responding to opposition’s criticism, the home minister reiterated that lynching incidents have been happening for years and mentioned that the biggest lynching happened in 1984 (anti-Sikh riots). Congress MPs protested his remark.
The matter was also raised in the Rajya Sabha. Trinamool Congress MP Shanta Chhetri demanded to know what steps are being taken by the union government to come up with an anti-lynching law.
Citing media reports, the MP said, “So far 88 precious lives have been lost since the present government came to power.” She said the Supreme Court had last week asked for a law banning mob lynching, and wanted the government to clarify what steps were being taken to check such attacks.
Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu hoped the government will take note of the issue raised.
On Monday, the Home Ministry announced setting up of two high-level committees to suggest ways and a legal framework to effectively deal with incidents of mob violence and lynching. The committees were set up a week after the Supreme Court asked the central government to enact a law to deal with incidents of lynching and take action on mob violence.
