india

Updated: Jul 14, 2019 00:37 IST

Batting for a strong law to check incidents of mob lynching, BSP chief Mayawati on Saturday welcomed the UP law commission’s draft bill which suggests jail terms ranging from seven years to life term for the perpetrators of such acts.

Describing ‘mob lynching’ as a “dreadful disease”, Mayawati demanded a pan-India legislation for it. She also slammed the centre for its inability to come up with an effective law on the issue.

“But merely drafting strong laws won’t suffice as the BJP would have to develop a strong will to implement laws in actuality, as was done during BSP rule in UP,” said Mayawati, a four-time UP chief minister, in a statement.

The BSP chief said the loss of lives due to lynching was a serious matter and alleged that the approach on the issue of BJP government at the centre was lackadaisical.

“The governments hardly appear to be doing enough despite the fact that the Supreme Court has taken cognizance of the instances of mob lynching and issued detailed guidelines to the state governments,” she said.

The UP Law Commission’s draft bill advocates jail term from seven years to life imprisonment and also prescribes punishment for police officers and bureaucrats if found guilty of “dereliction of duty”. Mayawati claimed that mob lynchings pointed towards the “niti and niyat (policy and intention) of the present governments. “Not only dalits, tribals or religious minorities, members of the sarv samaj (all communities) too were falling victims to it,” she said. The UP Law Commission, in its submission to the state government, has advised that the existing laws weren’t sufficient in effectively checking mob lynching.