Law against lynching will help: Shiv Sena

Mumbai, Jul 18: Endorsing the Supreme Court 's view, the Shiv Sena today said there should be a law against lynching. Saying that such a law, as recommended by the apex court yesterday, would certainly be helpful, an editorial in the party mouthpiece 'Saamana' noted that suspicion of child theft is not the only reason which leads to mob violence.

"Incidents of lynching continue unabated across the country, including in Tripura, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Karnataka," the editorial said. Suspicion of victims being child lifters or involved in cow slaughter acts as a trigger, but there are other kinds of provocation too, it said.

A road accident makes people angry and if the driver is caught, he is thrashed and the vehicle is set on fire, the editorial said. If a patient dies during treatment, the relatives attack doctors and vandalise the hospital, and such incidents have prompted doctors to go on strike in the past, it said.

"The government, while following the Supreme Court's directive on formulating a law against lynchings, should consider all these aspects. Other reasons behind the mob frenzy apart from suspicion of child-lifting and cow slaughter are (also) serious," the editorial said. Rumours and resultant killings will not stop completely even after a law is enacted, but people would not have a "license" to kill innocent persons then, it opined.

The Supreme Court yesterday asked Parliament to consider enacting a law to effectively deal with incidents of lynching, saying "horrendous acts of mobocracy" cannot be allowed to become the new norm.

Maharashtra witnessed a horrific case of mob frenzy earlier this month when five members of a nomadic tribe were killed on the suspicion of being child-lifters in Dhule district.

PTI