A year after the Supreme Court directed the government to enact a law to deal with the rising cases of mob lynching in the country, the Centre is working out such a legislation and is likely to introduce it in the ongoing session of Parliament, according to sources.
The Ministry of Home Affairs had asked the Law Ministry todraw out a draft law after carefully examining rising incidents of violentlynching sparked by rumours spread on social media platforms, each of whichhave no less than 200 million users in the country.
Referring to the Supreme Court directive, AIMIM chiefAsaduddin Owaisi on Friday asked the Centre why it was delaying the enactmentof the law.
“I would like to ask Home Minister (Amit Shah), why alaw on mob lynching is not being made? Last year, the Supreme Court had askedthe government to make a law on mob lynching. If you make all SC’s orders intolaws, why not this?” Owaisi said in the Lok Sabha.
Rajasthan, which has witnessed over a dozen cases oflynching by the mob over the past two years, has announced plans to come upwith a law against mob lynching.
Earlier this month, the Uttar Pradesh Law Commission alsocame up with a draft Bill recommending harsh punishment, including lifeimprisonment, for people involved in cases of mob lynching. According to a source, the law will force thepolice to take effective action in incidents of mob lynching and to also acttough on curbing dissemination of information that is dangerous to socialharmony, especially videos carrying hate messages.