Wednesday 16 February 2022

Anti-mob lynching bills passed by 4 Assemblies: Why So much in News? Know all about Anti-mob lynching bills.

     In 2017, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) collected data on mob lynching, hate crimes and cow vigilantism but it was not published and discontinued as these crimes are not defined and the data were found to be unreliable.

    On December 22, the Jharkhand Assembly passed the Prevention of Mob Violence and Mob Lynching Bill, 2021, providing for punishment from three years to life imprisonment. The Bill awaits the Governor’s nod.

    On August 5, 2019, the Rajasthan Assembly passed the Rajasthan Protection from Lynching Bill, 2019, providing for life imprisonment and a fine from ₹1 lakh to ₹5 lakh to those convicted in cases of mob lynching leading to the victim’s death.

    On August 30, 2019, the West Bengal Assembly passed a legislation- the West Bengal (Prevention of Lynching) Bill, 2019 that proposes a jail term from three years to life for those involved in assaulting and injuring a person and also defines terms such as “lynching” and “mob.” The government also proposed the West Bengal Lynching Compensation Scheme.

RTI application

    In response to a Right to Information Act (RTI) application by The Hindu, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) stated that the said legislation was received from the Rajasthan government on September 6, 2019. It added that the bill was “under inter-ministerial consultation with State Government/Union Ministries/ Departments.”

    The MHA’s reply stated, “However, the bill ie: The West Bengal (Prevention of Lynching) Bill, 2019’ has not been received from West Bengal Government.”

In 2018, the Manipur Assembly passed the The Manipur Protection from Mob Violence Bill, recommending life imprisonment for those involved in mob violence if it led to death. The bill is still being examined by the Ministry.

The Ministry examines the State legislations on three grounds---repugnancy with Central laws, deviation from national or central policy and legal and constitutional validity.

President’s consideration

    In 2019, the MHA informed the Lok Sabha that it had received the bills passed by the State legislatures of Manipur and Rajasthan that have been reserved by the Governor for consideration of the President.

    The President has to go with the advice given by the Council of Ministers, in the case of such legislations, represented by the MHA.

    In 2018, the Supreme Court asked Parliament to make lynching a separate offence. Union Home Minister Amit Shah had informed Parliament that the government has decided to overhaul the IPC framed in 1860 and the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and mob-lynching would also be examined by the committee. The suggestions received by the Committee for Reforms in Criminal Laws would be examined by the Ministry before the changes are adopted.

Why have the bills been delayed?

    In 2019, the MHA informed the Lok Sabha that it had received the bills passed by the State legislatures that have been reserved by the Governor for consideration of the President.

  • The President has to go with the advice given by the Council of Ministers, in the case of such legislation, represented by the MHA.
  • The Ministry examines the State legislations on three grounds— repugnancy with Central laws, deviation from national or central policy and legal and constitutional validity.

Recent incidents of mob lynching:

  • In December 2021, a man was lynched to death by the Sikh Sangat (Sikh devotees) in Shri Harmandir Sahib Gurudwara (Golden Temple) in Amritsar over an alleged attempt to disrespect the holiest book of Sikh religion, Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji.
  • In 2021 in Assam, a 23-year-old student leader was allegedly killed by a mob.
  • In 2021 October a man was allegedly lynched, his limbs cut off and left to die at the Singhu Border, site of the farmers’ protest against the three farm laws.
  • In 2021 August, a bangle seller in Indore was reportedly beaten up by a mob for allegedly hiding his identity.
  • The man survived and was sent to judicial custody.
  • In 2021 May, a 25-year-old Gurugram man was allegedly lynched when he went out to buy medicines.

What is meant by Lynching?

Any act or series of acts of violence or aiding, abetting (encouraging) such act/acts thereof, whether spontaneous or planned, by a mob on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth, language, dietary practices, sexual orientation, political affiliation, ethnicity or any other related grounds.

How are these cases handled?

There is “no separate” definition for such incidents under the existing IPC. Lynching incidents can be dealt with under Section 300 and 302 of IPC.

  • Section 302 provides that whoever commits murder shall be punished with death or imprisonment for life and shall also be liable to fine. Offence of murder is a cognisable, non- bailable and non-compoundable offence.

SC guidelines:

  • There should be a “separate offence” for lynching and the trial courts must ordinarily award maximum sentence upon conviction of the accused person to set a stern example in cases of mob violence.
  • The state governments will have to designate a senior police officer in each district for taking measures to prevent incidents of mob violence and lynching.
  • The state governments need to identify districts, sub-divisions and villageswhere instances of lynching and mob violence have been reported in the recent past.
  • The nodal officers shall bring to the notice of the DGP about any inter-district co-ordination issues for devising a strategy to tackle lynching and mob violence related issues.
  • Every police officer shall ensure to disperse the mob that has a tendency to cause violence in the disguise of vigilantism or otherwise.
  • Central and the state governments shall broadcast on radio, television and other media platforms about the serious consequences of mob lynching and mob violence.
  • Despite the measures taken by the State Police, if it comes to the notice of the local police that an incident of lynching or mob violence has taken place, the jurisdictional police station shall immediately lodge an FIR.
  • The State Governments shall prepare a lynching/mob violence victim compensation scheme in the light of the provisions of Section 357A of CrPC.
  • If a police officer or an officer of the district administration fails to fulfill his duty, it will be considered an act of deliberate negligence.

Need of the hour:

  • Every time there is a case of honor killing, hate crimes, witch hunting or mob lynching we raise demands for special legislation to deal with these crimes.
  • But, the fact is that these crimes are nothing but murders and the existing provisions under IPC and CrPC are sufficient to deal with such crimes.
  • Coupled with the guidelines laid down in Poonawala’s case, we are sufficiently equipped to deal with mob lynching. However, what we lack is due enforcement of the existing laws and accountability of the enforcement agencies.
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