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Mob-lynching protection bill draft released

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Mob-lynching protection bill draft released

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Youth and star activists gather to start Manav Suraksha Kanoon movement

By Lilly Paul

Like-minded citizens have come together to prepare a draft Bill, Protection From Lynching Act, 2017, looking at a new law against the rampant mob lynching taking place in the country. The draft of the proposed law, termed Manav Suraksha Kanoon (MASUKA), was released at the Constitution Club of India in New Delhi on July 7 by the National Campaign Against Mob Lynching.

The group has among its founding members youth leaders Tehseen Poonawalla, Shehla Rashid, Kanhaiya Kumar, Jignesh Mewani and Pankhuri Pathak.

The draft will be given to the NDA government first for their MPs to take up. If they do not, then there is a possibility that the draft would be given to any MP to be presented as a private member’s Bill. However, there seems to be a difference of opinion within the group on how to approach with this draft, Shehla Rashid not being for a private mention. This is a bit of confusion they have to clear up before they go ahead with it.

Prakash Ambedkar, grandson of BR Ambedkar, was also present at the release, along with Congressman Shehzad Poonawalla, civil rights activist Teesta Setalvad, JNUSU President Manoj K Pandey and missing JNU student Najeeb Ahmed’s sister, Sadar Musharraf.

Many people like Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, Swara Bhaskar, Manoj Jha and Jignesh Mevani conveyed their support through video messages.

The drafting committee for the Bill was headed by senior Supreme Court lawyer Sanjay Hegde. The committee also included activist and journalist Anil Chamaria, JNU professor Nivedita Menon, campaigner at Amnesty International Sanam Wazir, Delhi University professor Apoorvanand, Delhi School of Social Work professor Manoj Jha, feminist author and publisher V Geetha, senior advocate Rebecca John and actress Swara Bhaskar and other activists.

The draft defines ‘mob’ and ‘lynching’ and proposes to make lynching a non-bailable offence. It puts responsibility on the concerned SHO of the area where the lynching took place and demands a time-bound judicial probe, with maximum time limit of six months. The imprisonment for the guilty can extend up to life imprisonment under the proposed bill. It also demands compensation for the victim’s family.

A website and an email-Id have been launched for people to send in their suggestions, queries and feedback on the draft. The draft has been uploaded on the website stopmoblynching.com.

People can register their support for the Bill and send their queries, comments and suggestions to the website. The members had also planned to take out a march – called Insaaf March – to the Prime Minister’s residence and hand him the draft (read the draft here) personally but since he is off to Hamburg for the G20 summit, this couldn’t be possible.

The campaign members will give a copy of the draft to the MPs of their area asking them to support the Bill and will conduct events to keep the campaign going. The campaigners will also take out a march to Parliament when the next session of the Parliament begins on July 17.

The members said that they had earlier decided to name the Bill Nagrik Suraksha Kanoon but later changed it to Manav Suraksha Kanoon because not just Indian citizens but African nationals have also been harassed and assaulted by mobs and since this Bill has been drafted to save any human subjected to barbarism by mob.

On being asked if they were hopeful about the government giving a green signal to their Bill, Tehseen Poonawalla said with all seriousness: “Our Prime Minister is a very kind hearted man, he condemns violence taking place in any part of the world. He was the one who said don’t kill the Dalits, kill me instead. When you have such a Prime Minister why wouldn’t one be hopeful? We have all our faith in him.”

Teesta Setalvad, who will be launching the draft in Mumbai, said: “Any citizen of this country, who seeks help from the police or the authorities should not be denied help as it happened with Junaid’s brothers or Najeeb’s mother. I extend my support to this Bill and every aware citizen of this country should support it.”

Student activist and one of the members of the drafting committee, Shehla Rashid said: “The onus is completely on the Prime Minister, he should accept and stand up for this Bill thereby giving the message to cow vigilantes, Not in My Name. We don’t want this Bill to be presented as a private Bill because such bills get nowhere. We want the government to take it up.” Here is where the confusion arose in the route the draft should take. Other members told this correspondent that they had no objection to this draft moving through as a private Bill.

Said Rashid: “When a person is lynched, the message is very clear: ‘you do not belong to our society’. When a mentally challenged woman is lynched, the message is that mentally disabled people have no right to live in the society. When a Muslim is lynched or a Dalit is flogged in public, it is meant to terrorise the whole society.”

Prakash Ambedkar said: “If the government accepts this Bill, a message will go across the country that they do not support the culture of lynching.”

Prior to the draft release, an online petition was floated by actor Swara Bhaskar on Change.org demanding a ban on cow vigilante groups. The petition at present has received over 27,000 signees. The petition titled ‘Walk the talk, enact Manav Suraksha Kanoon’ was addressed to the Prime Minister.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

2024 Lok Sabha Elections

Farooq Abdullah accuses PM Modi of trying to divide the country over religion

Faroukh Abdullah reacted to PM Modi’s remark that the Congress will redistribute people’s money and property to Muslims if voted to power and said Muslims respect all religions. He said that they are Muslims and Allah has told them to respect other religions. He further added that a Muslim cannot snatch anyone’s right.

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Farooq Abdullah, Jammu and Kashmir’s National Conference President said on Wednesday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was trying to divide the country over religion. He also said that those who will vote for them must prepare for hell. Farooq Abdullah said Muslims cannot snatch away the rights of others.

Farooq Abdullah also called Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government a threat to the survival of the country. Omar Abdullah, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister cautioned the people not to divide this country on the basis of religion, otherwise a storm will unleash making the survival of the nation difficult. He said it is better to talk about uniting the country, instead of dividing its people.

He was addressing an election rally in Thanamandi area of the Rajouri district in Jammu and Kashmir. The Anantnag parliamentary constituency will go for elections on May 25. Faroukh Abdullah reacted to PM Modi’s remark that the Congress will redistribute people’s money and property to Muslims if voted to power and said Muslims respect all religions. He said that they are Muslims and Allah has told them to respect other religions. He further added that a Muslim cannot snatch anyone’s right.

He remembered an incident when former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi once stopped his car in Pulwama and assured a poor Hindu woman that he would give her a mangalsutra as she could not afford it. Farooq Abdullah said those who were against the INDIA bloc are against the nation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier sparked a controversy last month as he commented that the Congress would take away the hard-earned money of the masses and distribute them among infiltrators and those with many children.  Speaking at a rally today, the Prime Minister took a jibe at the Congress and said the governments in the past were not able to implement the Indian Constitution in Jammu and Kashmir. He was referring to the revocation of Article 370.

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Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah writes to PM Modi, urges home ministry to cancel diplomatic passport of Prajwal Revanna

CM Siddaramaiah wrote in the letter to PM Modi that he must be aware of the serious case of alleged sexual exploitation of a number of women by the sitting Hassan Lok Sabha member of Parliament (MP) and the NDA candidate, Prajwal Revanna, for the same constituency for the  ongoing 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

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Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, where he urged the Home Affairs Ministry to cancel the diplomatic passport of Prajwal Revanna. Earlier a day before Revanna was suspended by JD(S) amid a row over explicit videos. Revanna is believed to have escaped to Germany shortly after the first phase of elections ended in Karnataka on April 26, in which he was JD(S)-BJP’s candidate from Hassan.

CM Siddaramaiah wrote in the letter to PM Modi that he must be aware of the serious case of alleged sexual exploitation of a number of women by the sitting Hassan Lok Sabha member of Parliament (MP) and the NDA candidate, Prajwal Revanna, for the same constituency for the  ongoing 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The Karnataka Chief Minister wrote in letter that the Congress government in Karnataka has constituted a Special Investigation Team to investigate the allegations against Revanna. The SIT is working day and night to investigate the allegations of crimes against several women by Prajwal Revanna and getting him back to the country is of utmost importance so that he faces investigation and trial as per the existing law of the land.

Siddaramaiah urged PM Modi to move the Home Ministry to take swift action to cancel the diplomatic passport of Prajwal Revanna and appropriate action must be taken using diplomatic and police channels of the Government of India as well as international police agencies to ensure the swift return of the absconding member of parliament to face the existing law of the land.

Suspended JD(S) leader Prajwal Revanna, accused of sexually assaulting multiple women, broke his silence on Wednesday and said that truth will prevail soon. In his first response since the controversy erupted, Prajwal Revanna said on X that he is not in Bengaluru currently and has communicated the same to CID.

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Amit Shah says BJP will neither remove reservation for SCs, STs and OBC, nor will allow Congress to do so

The Home Minister alleged that the Congress’ formula was to speak lies loudly, publicly and repetitively. He advised Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge not to speak lies for a family as eventually he will have to take the blame for the party’s loss in the Lok Sabha elections

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Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday continued to attack Congress over reservation row. He was addressing a rally in Katghora town of Chhattisgarh’s Korba district to campaign for Saroj Pandey, BJP candidate from the Korba Lok Sabha seat where Shah said BJP will neither remove reservation for SCs, STs and OBCs, nor will it allow Congress to do so.

The Home Minister alleged that the Congress’ formula was to speak lies loudly, publicly and repetitively. He advised Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge not to speak lies for a family as eventually he will have to take the blame for the party’s loss in the Lok Sabha elections. Shah accused Congress of nurturing terrorism and Naxalism to win the Lok Sabha elections.

Shah further added that Congress claims if Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji gets majority for the third term, he will scrap reservation. He said the grand old party has even circulated his fake video. Shah said that have been in power for the last 10 years and PM Modi did not remove reservation, nor will he do it in the future.

The Union Home Minister further asserted Modi ji used the majority to scrap Article 370 and triple talaq, construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya and introduce the Citizenship Amendment Act. He further told the Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge that Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi do not belong to anyone. He said on June 4 Congress will suffer defeat and the brother-sister duo will remain safe, but Kharge ji will be blamed.

Shah further asserted if PM Modi becomes the prime minister for the 3rd straight term, then Naxalism will be uprooted in two years in Chhattisgarh.  Shah targeted the previous Bhupesh Baghel-led government in Chhattisgarh and said, The Bhupesh Kakka government encouraged Naxalism, but after the BJP came to power in the state under CM Vishnu Deo Sai and Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sharma 95 Naxalites have been eliminated in 4 months.

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