Centre to form high-level committee, Rajnath Singh to head ministers' panel on mob lynching

New Delhi: In the wake of the latest mob lynching incident in Rajasthan's Alwar, the Centre will set up a high-level committee headed by Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba to look into new laws to check lynching and mob violence incidents.

The government has also decided to form a panel of ministers Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to consider the recommendation of the high-level committee. The committee will submit their recommendation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi within the next four weeks.

With increasing incidents of lynching and mob violence from across the country in the recent past, the Supreme Court had last week asked Parliament to consider bringing in a law to prevent these.

The top court had observed that 'the state has to act positively in case of fear and anarchy' and that violence cannot be tolerated under any circumstances. A new law enacted could act as a big deterrent against mob lynchings and violence in the name of cow vigilantism.

The government is exploring the possibility of making amendments in the Indian Penal Code following the apex court's order to formulate a new law. According to a senior official, the government intends to define mob lynching as a penal offence.

Besides, the government is considering another option of drafting a model law, which can be adopted by states to prevent incidents of mob lynching. The official said that the discussions for the same are in 'preliminary state'.

Apart from these, the central government is also likely to further strengthen the framework concerning social media in order to ensure that rumours that trigger such incidents are checked.

In the latest mob lynching indent, a man was beaten up by a mob to death in Rajasthan on the suspicion of cow smuggling. 28-year-old Akbar Khan was lynched in Lalawandi village in Alwar district on last Saturday.