Jharkhand Assembly on Tuesday passed passed a law against mob lynching that provides for jail terms ranging from three years to life imprisonment and fines of up to ₹25 lakh against those involved in lynching leading to “injury or death” of an individual.
The legislation was passed amid opposition from BJP MLAs.
With the passage of the bill, Jharkhand became the third state after West Bengal and Rajasthan to have put in place such a law.
Mob lynching was a major poll issue in the wake of a series of such incidents in Jharkhand in the past few years.
An incident on June 17, 2019 made national headlines, in which 24-year-old Tabrez Ansari was tied to a pole and beaten to death by a mob at Dhatkidih village in Seraikela Kharsawan district on suspicion of theft. Ansari was purportedly seen in a video being forced to chant “Jai Shri Ram” and “Jai Hanuman” by the attackers. On June 22, he succumbed to his injuries in judicial custody.
“The law has been made to ensure people live in peace, harmony and brotherhood. It will now ensure people live and work in the state without any sense of fear,” chief minister Hemant Soren told reporters after the bill was passed in the assembly.
BJP leader C P Singh, as quoted by PTI, accused the state government of bringing the bill “in a hurry for the appeasement of minorities”.
The bill will now be sent to Jharkhand governor for his approval.