Rajnath calls mob lynching incidents unfortunate; Cong stages walkout

Terming mob lynching incidents "unfortunate", Home Minister Rajnath Singh in Lok Sabha on Thursday underscored that social media is being misused to spread fake news.

Following the Home Minister's statement, the Congress party which has been protesting against the BJP on the matter staged a walkout from the house.

Addressing the Lok Sabha, Singh said that the Centre has directed social media sites to regulate norms accordingly to curb the issue.

"These are unfortunate incidents. We had issued an advisory on this recently, and one in 2016 also. Social media being used to spread fake news and rumours is also a reason. We have asked social sites for regulation," Singh said.

He put the onus of maintaining law and order on the state governments.

Before staging a walkout, the Congress floor leader Mallikarjun Kharge said that Home Minister's response was not satisfactory.

Earlier in the day, the Congress raised slogans against Civil Aviation Minister Jayant Sinha for garlanding men convicted of lynching a meat trader in Jharkhand recently.

Congress leader KC Venugopal asked why one of the members of the Union Council of Ministers was found "garlanding" the mob lynching accused.