Jharkhand became the third state after Rajasthan and Bengal to pass the anti-lynching bill within an hour without any debate
On Tuesday, Jharkhand became the third state after Rajasthan and Bengal to pass the anti-lynching bill within an hour without any debate.
The Opposition has snubbed the Prevention of Mob Violence and Mob Lynching Bill, 2021, as appeasement politics. However, with rising cases of lynching across India, every state should mull passing this bill.
Punishment according to the anti-lynching bill
Once the law is enacted, the pleaded guilty will have to face life imprisonment and a penalty between 5 lakh rupees and 25 lakh rupees.
For grievous injuries, the guilty will face life imprisonment or up to 10 years of prison life with a fine of up to 5 lakh rupees. Anybody in charge of conspiring, aiding and attempting to lynch would be treated at par with one who commits lynching.
Those who are guilty of false propaganda through hate speeches and creating a toxic environment against a particular person/community would be jailed for three years with a fine of up to 3 lakh rupees. The bill also calls for an appointment of a state coordinator who shall not be below the rank of the Inspector General of Police as Nodal Officer. He will be appointed by the DIG of Police and monitor and coordinate prevention measures.
It also envisages financial compensation to the victim’s family and free treatment of mob violence victims.
Why the law is needed in Jharkhand?
While tabling the bill, the State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Alamgir Alam said that about 53 incidents of mob lynching took place in Jharkhand in which 33 victims died.
According to the Jharkhand Janadhikar Manch, a union of rights bodies, over 30 tribal Christians and Muslims had either been lynched or beaten up on suspicion of cow slaughter, sale and consumption of beef and religious hatred between 2016 and 2021.
Till 2019, 14 incidents of hate crimes were reported in Jharkhand after 2014. The state has a total of 16 cases of hate crime.
Between 2001 and 2016, 623 cases of women being declared as “Dayan” or witches and killed by mobs were reported. This is almost a quarter of the 2,557 such cases across the country, according to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reports on crime in India till 2016.
But C P Singh of BJP has accused the state government of being “in a hurry to appease the minorities”.
Why India needs the law?
After Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh also considers invoking the bill in the state. Other Indian states should also consider passing law to prevent lynching incidents.
In 2017, according to India Spend analysis, 86% of 28 lynching victims in 63 incidents were Muslims. They were targeted at 51% of the violence centred on bovine issues for nearly eight years (2010-17).
In 2018, 45-year-old cattle trader Mohammad Qasim was lynched in Uttar Pradesh’s Hapur by suspected cow vigilantes for over an hour. His body was pierced with screwdrivers and skin scraped with sickles.
On April 7, 2019, a Muslim man was harassed, humiliated, insulted and beaten by the mobs over beef in Assam. The mob suspected 68-year-old Shaukat Ali of selling beef and cornered and thrashed him. They then force-fed pork to him.
In April 2019, a 50-year-old Christian man was killed and three others were brutally assaulted and beaten when mobs attacked them in Gumla area of Jharkhand.