UP mulls stringent laws to combat mob lynching

The Uttar Pradesh government is contemplating to make stringent laws to combat mob lynching after the State Law Commission recommended strict punishment, including life imprisonment in case of death of the victim.

''The government is considering tough laws to deal with cases of mob lynching,'' UP law minister Brijesh Pathak said on Saturday.

The Commission has submitted a report to the state government, that also contains the draft Uttar Pradesh Combating of Mob Lynching Bill 2019.

Stating that the existing laws were not sufficient to deal with mob lynching cases, the Panel, which took suo-moto cognisance of such incidents, opined that both the perpetrators as well as the officials, if found lax, should be punished if such an incident took place. It also recommended making mob lynching a separate offence.

The Commission has recommended that the offenders should be awarded life imprisonment in case of death of the victim in the incident of mob lynching.

It recommended varying jail terms and fines for the offenders. The officials, if found lax, should also be jailed for one year to three years and should also pay fine.

Significantly, the Panel referred to ''hostile environment'', that included a boycott of the victim's family, its public humiliation and forcing it to leave its home.

Pathak said that the report was with the government and that its contents were being studied. ''A decision in this regard will be taken very soon,'' he added.

BSP supremo Mayawati also on Saturday demanded stringent pan-India legislation to combat mob lynching. In a statement issued here, the BSP leader termed mob lynching a ''serious disease'' that must be combated under any circumstances.

She accused the BJP governments of ''patronising'' the self-styled vigilantes and said that the offenders knew that they could get away by doing anything in the saffron party's regime.