The West Bengal passed a bill to keep a check on incidents of mob lynching and criminalising such actions. The Trinamool Congress chief stated that the Centre should take a hint.
Kolkata: The West Bengal assembly passed a bill to check incidents of mob assaults on Friday and criminalised such actions.
The West Bengal (Prevention of Lynching) Bill, 2019 was tabled in the House on Friday and supported by the opposition Congress and CPI(M). The BJP, which has emerged as the main opposition party, neither supported nor opposed the bill as it felt that the legislation may be used for settling political scores.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said that the state government has brought The West Bengal (Prevention of Lynching) Bill, 2019 as the Centre did not introduce any law against it.
"Lynching is a social evil and all of us have to come together to fight against it. The central government should have brought a law against it. But they are yet to do so. So we are bringing this law in our state to fight against this social evil," she said tabling the bill in the House.
The Bill aims to protect the constitutional rights of vulnerable persons and prevent incidents of lynching. It also proposes action against those involved in perpetrating the crime.
The legislation also pitches for a jail term, which may vary from three years to life for those involved in assaulting and injuring a victim.
In case of death of the victim, persons responsible for the incident would be punished with rigorous life imprisonment and fine up to Rs 5 lakh, the bill said.
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