NEW DELHI, July 28:
A panel of senior Government officers today deliberated over the possibility of enacting a new law to check the increasing incidents of lynching in different parts of the country.
Tehseen Poonawalla, who petitioned the Supreme Court and got a string of directives issued to the Government on prevention of the crime, appeared before the Committee of Secretaries and strongly pitched for a new law with punishment of life imprisonment to those found guilty.
Poonawalla, who is pressing for an anti-lynching bill or Masuka (Manav Suraksha Kanoon), said that he had a fruitful meeting with the panel headed by Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba and explained the difference between riots and mob violence, “all of which together can be called lynching”.
He said an incident of lynching can take place due to factors like anger, hate, fear etc. And hence, there is a need to define every such crime separately.
Poonawalla said he conveyed to the panel that whenever a special law was enacted, the incidents of the crime concerned have come down.
He gave the examples of dowry deaths and atrocities on Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to drive his point home.
He also suggested that a minimum of Rs 25 lakh should be given as compensation to the families of victims of lynching.
The committee is expected to deliberate further on the matter before submitting its report to a Group of Ministers headed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh within four weeks.
The GoM will submit its report to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Those who attended today’s meeting include secretaries of law, legal affairs and social justice and empowerment. (PTI)
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