NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday sought responses from the Centre and all major states on a PIL seeking to fix accountability on them with regard to the implementation of the apex court's July 17, 2018 judgment laying down guidelines for police to prevent incidents of mob lynching by cow vigilante groups .

A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Deepak Gupta entertained the petition after hearing brief arguments from senior advocate Anukul Chandra Pradhan, who appeared for NGO Anti-Corruption Council of India Trust represented by Kamran Khan.

Citing eight incidents of violence against Muslims by cow vigilante groups, all of which occurred before the July 17, 2018 judgment, the petitioner NGO requested the court to direct the Centre and states to "furnish detailed status report on action taken against mob lynching incidents as per the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court".

It also sought a direction to the Centre and states to expeditiously pay compensation to the kin of victims of mob lynching and to those injured in such incidents.

The Supreme Court had slammed recurring mob lynching incidents and asked the governments to discharge their constitutional duty of maintaining law and order to ensure peace and preserve secular ethos in a pluralistic society.

Referring to vigilante groups indulging in violence as criminals needing stern punishment, the SC had urged Parliament "to create a separate offence for lynching and provide adequate punishment for the same" as a special law would instil a sense of fear in people who involved themselves in such activities.

It ordered states to frame a "lynching/mob violence victim compensation scheme" within a month with a provision for interim payment to victims within a month of the incident. The judgment had come on petitions filed by Tehseen Poonawala and others on preventing mob lynching. The petitions are still pending and the SC had passed orders last on September 24.

On September 7, attorney general KK Venugopal had informed the SC that the Centre had constituted an empowered group of ministers to consider the nature of legislation to be brought in Till the last order, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Tripura, Assam, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar and two Union Territories - Lakshadweep and Puducherry - had filed compliance of directions issued by the SC on July 17, 2018.

It had on September 24 directed all states to upload the action taken by them so that people could be aware of the steps taken, which are necessary for creating peace and harmony in society and deterring individuals who take the law into their hands.

