It has been observed that up until December 4, the government had been giving the same monotonous answer to these questions, which reads as follows:

“A Group of Ministers was constituted by the Government to deliberate on the matter and make recommendations. The Group of Ministers has since met and the Government is seized of the matter.”

This answer does not say that the law will be eventually passed and still keeps the topic in a grey area so that the government can fall back on this answer and say that it is considering the same.

A question that has been raised repeatedly on the floor of both houses has compelled the government to consider it. So much so that the Union Home Minister on December 4, said in Rajya Sabha that the government will keep in mind the need to have specific legal provisions against lynchings as it mulls an overhaul of the Indian Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code. Amit Shah further said, “I have written to chief ministers and lieutenant governors to provide suggestions about the amendments required to the IPC and the CrPC. The Bureau of Police Research and Development has set up a committee to consider comprehensive changes to the IPC and the CrPC. We will keep in mind the Supreme Court order too.”

Supreme Court’s say on lynching

In July 2018, the Supreme Court, while condemning mob lynching, had given directions, including preventive, remedial and punitive steps to deal with the crime of lynching and in July 2019 it even issued notices to the Centre and the states on a PIL filed for implementing the apex court’s July 2018 order.

Proactive state governments

Manipur and Rajasthan Governments have submitted their respective bills on mob violence for the President’s assent and the government says that it is sill holding consultations on the laws of both the states.

Meanwhile, the Congress is riding high on the BJP’s failure on implementing a law on mob lynching by promising in its manifesto for Jharkhand polls that it will bring out a stringent law for mob lynching in the state.

The NCRB excuse

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) also stated that although NCRB (National Crime Records Bureau) had collected data under crime heads like mob lynching, it found the data to be unreliable and the definition to be prone to misinterpretation, and hence the same was not published by the bureau in its 2017 report which was released much belatedly only recently.

Callous parliamentarians on lynchings

While on one hand, parliamentarians are insisting so vehemently on a law against mob lynching, some irresponsible and callous MPs like Jaya Bachhan went ahead and called for lynching of those accused of rape and murder of the Hyderabad vet, a case that has caught the nation’s attention and has led to a huge outcry. The same institution which has members pushing for a law against lynching has such members who are encouraging the same behaviour. The irony cannot be more obvious.

Former law Minister and Congress leader, Ashwani Kumar said, “calls by parliamentarians for public lynching and castration of the accused is a constitutional affront and militate against the first principles of the rule of law. Such calls of retribution unknown to civilised societies and constitutional democracies do no justice to the duties of law makers.”

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The UP Law Commission has submitted a report to the Adityanath government suggesting ways to prevent incidents of lynching as well as possible punishment for the crime. It has recommended life imprisonment in case the victim dies in the attack.

This is not very unlike what the MP government proposed in May this year.  The INC’s manifesto for the state elections had promised better cow protection laws, in what was dismissed by critics as peddling soft Hindutva. The state has MP Cow Progeny Slaughter Prevention Act, 2004 which was amended in 2011. The new proposed amendment aims to bring about strict provisions against mob lynching by cow vigilantes. While some reports says that the proposed jail term ranges from 6 months to 5 years, others indicate it could be 3 years for the first offence and 5 years for the second.

At present the cow protection laws in MP can be summarised as under:

• Slaughter of cow progeny, and transport of agricultural cattle (s.6) for slaughter is prohibited.
• The export of cow progeny is not allowed without permit and the fulfillment of permit requirements that are laid down in the act.
• Penalty for slaughter of cows: Imprisonment which is a minimum of 1 year and a maximum of 7 years AND a fine which is not less than Rs.5,000.

Meanwhile, after the 2002 amendment to the UP Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act, the provisions stand as follows:

• Penalty for cow slaughter, sale of beef and transport of cows for slaughter: Imprisonment which may extend to 7 years and a fine which may extend to Rs.10,000.
• Penalty for Attempt to commit cow slaughter, sale of beef and transport of cows for slaughter: Imprisonment which may extend to one half of the longest term of imprisonment provided for that offence and and with such fine as is provided for that offence)
• Offences are cognizable and non-bailable

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