WB Assembly passes bill against lynching

Kolkata, Aug 30: The West Bengal assembly Friday passed a bill to check incidents of mob assaults and lynching and criminalized such actions.

The West Bengal (Prevention of Lynching) Bill, 2019 was tabled in the House on Friday and supported by the opposition Congress and CPI(M).

The BJP, which has emerged as the main opposition party, neither supported nor opposed the bill as it felt that the legislation may be used for settling political scores.

"Lynching is a social evil and all of us have to come together to fight against this evil. The Supreme Court has given direction to take action against lynching." Mamata Banerjee said while speaking on Bill in the House.

"The central government should have brought a law against it. But as it is yet to do so we are bringing this law in our state to fight against this social evil. We need to raise awareness against the incident of lynchings," she added.

The Bill aims to protect the constitutional rights of vulnerable persons and prevent incidents of lynching. It also proposes action against those involved in perpetrating the crime.

The legislation also pitches for a jail term, which may vary from three years to live for those involved in assaulting and injuring a victim. In case of death of the victim, persons responsible for the incident would be punished with rigorous life imprisonment and fine up to Rs 5 lakh, the bill said.