{"id":64485,"date":"2019-07-12T16:00:11","date_gmt":"2019-07-12T10:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/?p=64485"},"modified":"2019-07-12T16:11:42","modified_gmt":"2019-07-12T10:41:42","slug":"uttar-pradesh-law-commission-recommends-law-lynchings-providing-life-term","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/india-news\/uttar-pradesh-law-commission-recommends-law-lynchings-providing-life-term\/","title":{"rendered":"UP Law Commission recommends law for lynchings providing up to life term"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Uttar Pradesh State Law Commission has drawn a draft legislation for combating mob lynching, recommending jail terms ranging from seven years to life imprisonment for assailants and up to three years for dereliction of duty by a police officer or district magistrate.<\/p>\n
The draft law is part of a report based on a study undertaken suo motu by the Commission \u2013 the government had not commissioned it. The report along with the draft Bill was submitted to UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday, July 10, by State Law Commission Chairman Justice (retd) Aditya Nath Mittal, according to media reports.<\/p>\n
In the introduction to the report, Justice Mittal noted that \u201cone of the most stringing descriptions of the dangers of mob violence was Mark Twain\u2019s response to a racial lynching in Missouri in 1901. He saw in it the danger of America turning into \u2018United States of Lyncherdom\u2019.\u201d More than a century later, the secular Republic of India \u201cappears to be amidst the shadow of a similar fear,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The 128-page report cited various cases of lynching in the state and recommended the immediate enactment of a law as per recommendations made by the Supreme Court in 2018.The report said only Manipur has made a special law against lynchings and, as per media reports, the Madhya Pradesh government is soon going to enact it.<\/p>\n
The Supreme Court had in July 2018 issued a series of remedial and punitive measures to the Centre and state governments to curb mob lynching, demanding them to be implemented within four weeks.Noting that \u201cmobocracy cannot be allowed in democracy\u201d, the court had asked the governments to ensure that law and order is maintained. It had recommended the governments to enact a law that specifically addresses cases of lynching.<\/p>\n
The UP State Law Commission\u2019s report says the existing law is not sufficient to deal with mob lynchings and there is need for a law to not just punish the wrongdoers but also hold authorities responsible for dereliction of duty if such incidents take place under their watch.<\/p>\n
Suggesting that such a law may be called the Uttar Pradesh Combating of Mob Lynching Act, the commission specified the responsibilities of police officers and district magistrates, spelling out the punishment for failing in their duty.<\/p>\n
As per the available data from 2012 to 2019, 50 incidents of mob violence have taken place in the state.<\/p>\n