Anti-mob lynching bills passed by 4 Assemblies at various levels of non-implementation

Bills passed against mob lynching in the past four years by at least three States ruled by BJP rivals and one governed by the party itself have not been implemented with the Union government taking a view that lynching is not defined as a crime under the Indian Penal Code.

The Union Home Ministry informed Parliament in 2019 that there was “no separate” definition for lynching under the IPC, adding that lynching incidents could be dealt with under Sections 300 and 302 of the IPC, pertaining to murder.

In 2018, the Supreme Court asked Parliament to make lynching a separate offence. Union Home Minister Amit Shah had informed Parliament that the government has decided to overhaul the IPC framed in 1860 and the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and mob-lynching would also be examined by the committee.

The suggestions received by the Committee for Reforms in Criminal Laws would be examined by the Ministry before the changes are adopted. The Ministry examines the State legislations on three grounds---repugnancy with Central laws, deviation from national or central policy and legal and constitutional validity.