Anti-Lynching Law has set up, the government of India told to Supreme Court on 7th Sep 2018, that it had set up an empowered group of ministers to work on the anti-lynching law, in July.
Attorney General for India K K Venugopal gave this information to a three-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra. The court recorded this, but also asked the government to widely publicise its anti-lynching guidelines in the interim for the benefit of the states.
There have been several incidents of lynching in the country amid heightened cow vigilantism by some groups.
Currently lynching is covered under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
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Activists such as Tehseen Poonawala and Tushar Gandhi had approached the Supreme Court to prevail upon the government to enact a specific law to deal with this mob crime.
The top court bench, comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud besides the CJI, on Friday also directed all state governments to comply with its guidelines to prevent lynching in the name of cow vigilantism or any other reason within a week.
The court had asked all states to comply with these guidelines, but only nine have done it so far.
The guidelines include setting up high level police teams to keep an eye on areas where such incidents are likely to occur.
The Rajasthan government — which is in the dock over the death of a lynch mob victim because the cops failed to take him to a hospital in time — said it had suspended one officer in-charge of the team. Two others have been transferred.
A case of murder has been registered and a charge sheet will be filed in the case against three of the accused today, ASG Tushar Mehta said. One accused is absconding.
The bench asked him to place disciplinary action taken against the cops before the court.
Appearing for the petitioner, senior advocate Indira Jaising urged the court to intercede to disclose the rules under which sundry groups are allowed to raid and stop trucks ferrying animals. “We are seeking disclosure of the accredited list of such societies,” she said. She conceded that the rules were yet to be challenged in court.
