MHA to draft law specifically to handle lynching cases: MoS Nityanand Rai

On Wednesday, Minister of State for Home Affairs, Nityanand Rai stated that there was a proposal to draft a law to specifically handle cases of lynching. He stated that the Government had constituted a Group of Ministers (GoM) to deliberate on the same and stated that the Government is seized of the matter. He also mentioned that the cases of lynching needed to be dealt with more strictly under stringent Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections. 

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"A Group of Ministers was constituted by the Government to deliberate on the matter and make recommendations. The Group of Ministers has since met and the Government is seized of the matter," said Nityanand Rai in a written reply in Parliament.

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'Section 300, 302 for lynching'

He also stated that incidents of lynching should be dealt using Sections 300 and 302 of the IPC since the offence amounts to murder hence a strict punishment like death or life imprisonment would be appropriate for the same. "Lynching incidents can be dealt with under Section 300 and 302 of Indian Penal Code (IPC). Section 302 provides that whoever commits murder shall be punished with death or imprisonment for life and shall also be liable to fine. The offence of murder is a cognizable, non-bailable and non-compoundable offence," Rai said.

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The entire discourse around lynching and mob lynching in India took prominence after the Dadri lynching that happened back in 2015 where Mohammed Akhlaq was killed by a mob for suspicion of slaughtering a cow and keeping beef at his house. A few years later, in 2017, multiple lynchings occurred after there was a trend of circulating of WhatsApp messages of child abduction which led to aroused suspicions and people being targetted solely on the basis of that.

In the wake of these lynchings, Whatsapp had announced that it would limit the number of times a message can be forwarded. The Government has been on a constant crackdown on cases on lynching.

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(With Agency Inputs)