The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) informed the Lok Sabha on Tuesday that certain clarifications have been sought from the Governments of Rajasthan and Manipur regarding the anti-lynching Bills passed by the two Assemblies in 2019 and 2018 respectively.
Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said in a written reply that lynching is not defined as a crime under the Indian Penal Code. He was responding to a question by Congress member Manish Tewari.
The Hindu reported on February 15 that anti-mob lynching Bills passed by at least three Opposition ruled States and one BJP ruled State in the past four years are caught up in various levels of non-implementation with the Union Government taking a view that lynching is not defined as a crime under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
“In its annual ‘Crime in India’ report, National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) publishes crime data from all States/Union Territories under various crime heads that are defined under the Indian Penal Code and Special & Local Laws. In the year 2017, NCRB collected data on cases of mob-lynching, hate crimes etc. but it was observed that the data was unreliable,” the reply stated.
It added that the Government has received ‘The Rajasthan Protection From Lynching Bill, 2019’ and ‘The Manipur Protection from Mob Violence Bill, 2018’. “After consultation with the nodal ministries/departments, certain clarifications have been sought from Government of Rajasthan and Government of Manipur on October 12, 2021 and November 18, 2021 respectively.” it said adding that NCRB does not maintain data under the head ‘hate speech’.
