Rajnath to lead GoM panel on mob violence, report to PM
NEW DELHI: Two high-level committees have been formed by the central government to suggest ways and legal framework to deal with incidents of mob violence and lynching effectively, the Home Ministry said on Monday.
One of the committees is being headed by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and the other by Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba.
The move came a week after the Supreme Court asked the central government to enact a law to deal with incidents of lynching and take action on mob violence.
The move comes amid growing alarm over incidents of mob violence and killings across India.
The GoM will submit its recommendations to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Centre on Monday sought a report from the Rajasthan government on the alleged lynching of a man in the state's Alwar district on suspicion of cow smuggling.
The Rajasthan Police has also set up a high-level committee to probe the allegations of delay against the Alwar police in taking Rakbar Khan to a hospital after he was allegedly lynched on suspicion of cow smuggling.
The Congress and the BJP were on Monday locked in a bitter slugfest over the Alwar lynching case with Rahul Gandhi alleging hatred had replaced humanity in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "brutal" 'New India' and two union ministers accusing the opposition leader of being a "merchant of hate" and indulging in "vulture politics".
The fresh wordy duel between the two rival parties broke out after the Congress president cited a media report which claimed that policemen in Alwar in Rajasthan took three hours to take a dying victim of a lynch mob to a hospital as they took a tea-break enroute.
The 28-year-old victim was allegedly lynched in Rajasthan's Alwar district Friday night by a group of people who accused him of smuggling cows.
Khan and his friend Aslam were taking two cows to their village in Haryana through a forested area near Lalawandi in Alwar district last week when five men attacked them. Three people have been arrested.
Gandhi's attack on Modi sparked an angry response from two union ministers-Piyush Goyal and Smriti Irani.
"Stop jumping with joy every time a crime happens, Rahul Gandhi. The state has already assured strict and prompt action. You divide the society in every manner possible for electoral gains and then shed crocodile tears. Enough is enough. You are a merchant of hate," Goyal tweeted.
Irani accused Gandhi of doing "vulture politics" and claimed that not a single instance goes by where he doesn't attempt to rupture social bonds for electoral gains.
In a related development, the Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear on August 28 the pleas seeking contempt action against the Rajasthan government in the recent mob lynching case at Alwar.
