Civil society members demand law against mob lynching

A group of civil society members on Monday demanded a law against mob lynching and warned of an agitation if the process of legislating such an act is not initiated early.

The demand was strongly made at the launch of National Campaign Against Mob Lynching, a forum made up of JNU students and civil society members, here on Monday.

Actress Swara Bhaskar, businessman Tehseen Poonawalla, veteran journalist Kuldip Nayar, were among the many who spoke at the event and stressed the increased need for a law against lynching in the face of "frequent instances of mob attacks".

Members who raised the demand also included Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students Shehla Rashid and Kanhaiya Kumar.

They warned of a massive agitation on July 11, exactly a year after four Dalits were flogged and thrashed publicly in Una town of Gujarat on suspicion that they had slaughtered a cow.

National Campaign Against Mob Lynching would prepare a draft law and present it to various states and the central government for consideration.

The drafting committee includes Supreme Court lawyer Sanjay Hegde, Dalits-rights activist Anil Chamaria, and JNU teacher Nivedita Menon, among others.

"Mob lynching is a recent phenomenon in its enhanced and aggravated form... There is no rule of law left in this country. It is my request that a law should be passed against mob-violence promptly," Jignesh Mewani, a young leader who fomented a massive agitation in Gujarat after Dalits were assaulted publicly in Una district there, told the media.

Former JNU Students Union President Kanhaiya Kumar said: "Gau-mata and Mother India don't even know that people are being killed in their names. There's a National Security Act but what about human security?"

Azmat Khan, who was accompanying 55-year-old Pehlu Khan when he was lynched by a mob in Alwar on April 1 while transporting a couple of cows for his small dairy farm in Mewat, also recounted the mob fury. He said that "not even a peon from the government" has visited him since the incident.

"Instead, I found myself slapped with a police case," he said.

--IANS

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