House passes resolution against mob lynching

Thiruvananthapuram: The state legislative assembly unanimously passed a resolution on Thursday against “widespread mob lynching of dalits and minorities especially by cow vigilantes” across the country and urged the central government to put an end to the “barbaric practice”.
“The figures show that cases of mob lynching have quadrupled after 2014, and majority of the cases involved cow vigilantes. Rate of such crimes which was 5% in 2010 increased to 20% in 2017. As many as 25 persons were lynched by cow vigilantes in 2017,” said the resolution moved by chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
The resolution, in fact, was inspired by a submission by IUML leader M K Muneer who urged the assembly on Monday to pass a resolution against mob lynching “as Kerala with its strong secular credentials, had to show an example”. Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala, later, took up the matter with the CM, which led to the resolution.
Though the opposition leaders, including Congress MLA P T Thomas, urged the chief minister to make a specific mention of the BJP governments at the centre and various states for “encouraging mob lynching” in the resolution, the House refrained itself from making such a direct attack.
“Several incidents which took place during the last one month have repeatedly shown that life is no more safe for the marginalised in the country, especially dalits and people from minority communities. Instead of adopting an inclusive policy, the trend now is to suppress the diversities of the country,” the resolution said.
The resolution also pointed out various cases of mob lynching, including that of Tabrez Ansari in Jharkhand and Mohammed Akhlaq in Dadri and said instead of getting punished for “the most heinous acts”, the accused were getting encouragement from authorities to commit such crimes.