BackNDA blinks, forms expert panel to curb lynching
The committee will submit its recommendations to the centre within four weeks
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New Delhi: Three days after 28-year old Rakbar Khan was lynched to death in Rajasthan’s Alwar by cow protection vigilantes, the Union home ministry on Monday set up a high powered committee to probe the incident and propose preventive measures.
This development came on a day when mob lynching grabbed national attention with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress engaged in a bitter blame game, which also spilled over on social media.
The committee, the ministry confirmed, will be led by Union home secretary Rajiv Gauba and include the secretaries of the department of justice, department of legal affairs, social justice and empowerment and the legislative department.
“The government is concerned by violence by mobs in some parts of the country. The government has set up a high level committee … to deliberate the matter and make recommendations. The committee will submit its recommendations within four weeks," the ministry said in a statement.
Union home minister Rajnath Singh, along with a group of ministers comprising minister of external affairs Sushma Swaraj, minister of road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari, and minister of law and justice Ravi Shankar Prasad, among others, will review the proposals and make their recommendation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
While the Rajasthan Police has already arrested three men on suspicion of being involved in the crime, the Union home ministry has also sought a detailed report on the matter from the state government.
The lynching of a 28-year-old man in Alwar took political centre stage after a war of words erupted between party president Rahul Gandhi-led Congress and the ruling BJP on Monday over rising cases of violence in the name of cow smuggling.
While Gandhi attacked the idea of “New India", being promoted by Modi and said the brutal killing of Rakbar Khan signifies that humanity can be replaced with hatred, the BJP on its part accused the Congress of “politicizing" the issue.
“Policemen in Alwar took three hours to get a dying Rakbar Khan, the victim of a lynch mob, to a hospital just 6 KM away. Why? They took a tea-break enroute. This is Modi’s brutal “New India" where humanity is replaced with hatred and people are crushed and left to die," Gandhi wrote on Twitter.
Three Union ministers took to social media targeting Gandhi.
“Stop jumping with joy every time a crime happens, Mr Rahul Gandhi. The state has already assured strict & prompt action. You divide the society in every manner possible for electoral gains & then shed crocodile tears. Enough is Enough. You are a MERCHANT OF HATE," tweeted Union finance minister Piyush Goyal in a reply to Rahul Gandhi’s tweet.
According to a PTI report, Rakbar Khan was allegedly lynched in Alwar on Friday night by men who claimed he was smuggling cows.
The timing of the political slugfest is interesting as last week the Supreme Court had asked the Union government to draft a special law against incidents of lynching. It also comes in the backdrop of upcoming state polls in Rajasthan were the Vasundhara Raje-led BJP government is battling a prestige battle to retain the state. The election will see a direct contest between the BJP and Congress.
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