New Delhi: The centre cannot be silent spectator on cases of lynching, adding that law and order is a state subject, Union home minister Rajnath Singh told parliamentarians on Thursday, anticipating that the Congress-led opposition would try to corner the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on the recent incidents of lynching during the debate on the no-confidence motion that would be taken up for discussion on Friday.
The statement comes just two days after the Supreme Court asked Parliament to frame a special law to curb this menace, where most of the recent cases of lynching were fuelled by rumors spread through social networking platforms.
“It is true that there have been incidents of lynching in various parts of the country which also led to the death of many people. Lynching incidents have happened earlier as well. We condemn this approach. Public order is a state subject but the central government cannot be silent. When these incidents were taking place, the home ministry in 2016 and in 2018 had issued an advisory on this,” Singh said in the Lok Sabha.
Singh’s statement was in response to a question raised by Congress leader K.C. Venugopal. Social media providers also need to install checks to curb such incidents, the home minister said.
“Such mob lynching incidents are based on rumors, unverified fake news. It is the responsibility of state governments to conduct appropriate inquiry. We have reached out to social media service providers to install checks in their system to deal with such incidents. There needs to be thorough investigation in such incidents,” Singh said.
Describing the response of the Union home minister as unsatisfactory, Congress leaders walked out of the Lok Sabha when Singh was replying in the Lower House.
“The home minister’s statement on mob lynching was not satisfactory at all. That is why we staged a walkout from the House. This is not a game of ping-pong that states and centre keep shifting responsibilities,” Congress member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor said outside Parliament.
Raising the issue in the Rajya Sabha, Communist Party of India leader D. Raja said that “those who indulge in violence they think they have the political patronage and the target are overwhelmingly Muslim, minorities and Dalits.”
PTI contributed to this story.