Brutal Lynching of Farooq Khan Pushed Manipur to Pass Country’s First and Tough Anti-Lynching Law

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Mumtaz Alam | India Tomorrow
New Delhi/ Imphal, Jan 22— Manipur is the only state in the country today which has a tough and robust law to tackle mob violence and mob lynching – a law that deals with all stages of an incident, from pre-emptive measures to check it to speedy trial to punish culprits, and actions against guilty officers to compensation and rehabilitation of the victims. What pushed the north-eastern state for the law urgently was the gruesome lynching by a mob of an MBA student in the state capital Imphal in September last year.

On 14th September 2018, a mob brutally lynched 26-year-old MBA student Mohammad Farooq Khan in the Tharoijam village in Imphal West district. Khan, who was studying MBA in Bangalore and had come home on vacation, was mercilessly beaten to death on suspicion of bike theft. Khan hailed from Lilong Haoreibi village in Thoubal district, around two hours from the spot where he was killed in the presence of some policemen who were later suspended.

On 8th November, within two months of the Imphal lynching, the Manipur government of BJP brought the Manipur Protection from Mob Violence Ordinance duly promulgated by the Governor on the same day with immediate effect.

One may contrast the pace and sincerity of the Manipur government of the saffron party on this issue with the lethargic attitude of the governments of the same party in the Hindi heartland, particularly in Rajasthan, where at least half a dozen people were lynched by brutal gangs of self-styled cow vigilantes in the last couple of years. More sadly, after almost each incident, some lawmakers of the ruling party appeared standing on the side of the offenders. (BJP has lost Rajasthan, besides Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, to Congress in the Assembly polls in Dec 2018).

In July last year, the Supreme Court of India had laid down detailed guidelines for all states to check the menace of mob violence and mob lynching. Unfortunately, the incidents have continued occurring unabated in different parts of the country, including Rajasthan. However, one expects that the tough anti-lynching law will put a check on the menace at least in Manipur.

Salient Features of Manipur’s Anti-Lynching Law
The Manipur Protection from Mob Violence Ordinance 2018 was promulgated by Governor Najma A. Heptuall on 8th November. The bill, which was moved in the Assembly by Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, who holds Home Department, was passed by the House on 21st December.

Lynching:
— Any act or series of acts of violence or aiding, abetting such act/acts thereof, whether spontaneous or planned, by a mob on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth, language, dietary practices, sexual orientation, political affiliation, ethnicity or any other related grounds or on mere suspicion of commission of a cognizable crime not amounting to a heinous one

— Mob means a group of two or more individuals, assembled with a common intention of lynching

Duties of Nodal Officer and Police Officer:
— The state government shall designate a senior police officer, not below the rank of Superintendent of Police, as Nodal Officer in each district.

— Such Nodal Officer shall be assisted by one of the Deputy Superintendent of Police rank officers in the district for taking measures to prevent incidents of mob violence and lynching.

— It shall be duty of every police officer, in-charge of a police station to take all reasonable steps to prevent any incident of lynching, including its incitement, commission and possible spread in the area under his or her jurisdiction.

Offences and Punishment:
— If an act of lynching leads to the victim suffering hurt, the culprit shall be punished with imprisonment of either for a term which may extend up to seven years and with fine which may extend to one lakh rupees.

— If an act of lynching leads to the victim suffering grievous hurt, the culprit shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend up to ten years, and with fine which may extend to three lakh rupees.

— If an act of lynching leads to the death of the victim, the culprit shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for life and with fine which may extend to five lakh rupees.

— Whoever takes part in a conspiracy or conspires to lynch another person, or abets to aides or attempts an act of lynching shall be punished in the same manner as if they had taken part in the actual incident of lynching.

Collective Fine on Locality of Lynching:
If, after an inquiry in the prescribed manner, the state government is satisfied that the inhabitants of an area are concerned in, or abetting the commission of, any offence punishable under this Ordinance, or harbouring persons concerned in the commission of such offence or failing to render all the assistance in their power to discover or apprehend the offender or offenders or suppressing material evidence of the commission of such offence, the state government may imposed a collective fine on such households in the local area of place of occurrence of equal amount of fine from each household who are liable collectively to pay it.

Action against Police Officer:
When any police officer, directly in charge of maintaining law and order in an area, omits to exercise lawful authority vested in them under law, without reasonable cause, and thereby fails to prevent lynching, shall be guilty of dereliction of duty.

Prosecution and Trial:
— All offences under this law shall be cognizable, non-bailable and non-compoundable.

— No police officer below the rank of Sub-Inspector of Police shall investigate any offence committed under this law.

— Offences under this law shall be tried by designated Judges appointed under this law.

— The state government will appoint as many Designated Judges in consultation with Chief Justice of Manipur High Court as it may be necessary to try offences punishable under this law.

Relief and Rehabilitation:
— The state government shall frame a scheme namely, mob violence/lynching victim compensation scheme in the light of the provision of section 357A of the Code of Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 to be paid within 30 days of the incident.

— Where the death of a person has occurred as consequence of lynching, the compensation for such death shall be paid to the next of kin of the deceased

— While computing compensation, the state government must give due regard to the bodily injury, psychological injury, material injury and loss of earnings including loss of opportunity of employment and education, expenses incurred on account of legal and medicinal assistance.

— Where the offence under this law has led to displacement of the victims from their residence, the state government shall arrange for the accommodation of the victims and take all necessary steps to rehabilitate such victims.

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