Vigilantism to be dealt with strictly: Rajnath Singh

New Delhi: The government will enact a law, if necessary, to curb incidents of lynching, home minister Rajnath Singh said on Tuesday amid Opposition outcry over the growing number of such cases. Mr Singh said the government has taken this seriously and would look at taking stringent action against culprits, as the ruling coalition faced scathing attack.

The Alwar lynching was raised in both Houses and in the Rajya Sabha, the TMC demanded a law to prevent killings by vigilantes. Raising the issue through a zero hour mention, Ms. Shanta Chhetri of the TMC cited media reports to say that “88 precious lives have been lost in lynching since this government came to power.” She sought to know the steps initiated to check such attacks and the government’s action on an anti-lynching law.

The issue found support among several parties, whose members rose their hands to ‘associate’ themselves.

BJP MP in Lok Sabha Ms Meenakshi Lekhi on Tuesday dubbed those raising the issue of lynching as “hypocrites”, saying they have forgotten the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and alleged “lynching of karsevaks” in 2002. She also asked during Zero Hour as to why there was no uproar on the killing of a Dalit in Rajasthan for marrying a Muslim girl.

On Monday, the home ministry had announced setting up of two high-level committees to curb lynching.