Modi govt buries its head in the sand over data on mob lynchings

The minister of state (Home) Hansraj Ahir has said in Parliament that Centre does not have data related to cases of mob lynching, which is a blatant lie.

According to data available in public domain, sixty-five cases of mob lynchings have been reported. ‘Dismantling India’ ,the report which presents a detailed account of four years of the Narendra Modi government, also comrpises cases of violence against Muslims, Dalits, Christians and tribal communities in a chronological order, with dates and the year too.

According to the data, the country witnessed 371 cases of hate crimes over the last four years, including 228 cases of violence against Muslims. The data is of cases till July 3, 2018. These cases have been taking place unabated even after that. A petition is being filed in Supreme Court regarding the recent lynching in Rajasthan, saying that the state government is guilty of contempt of the apex court of India.

In last one year, about 30 cases of lynching took place in nine states of the country. Justice has not been served in any of these cases as yet. On the contrary, cases have been filed against the families of the deceased in 30% of such cases, while in 5% cases, no case has been registered against the attackers.

All the data is available. If the central government wants, it can present the details of these cases and have action taken on these matters in Parliament. On the contrary, right from union ministers to Members of Parliament, all are looking at cases of lynchings as a conspiracy against PM Narendra Modi.

Earlier too, when on December 27, 2017, responding to a question over mob lynching cases, the minster of state for home affairs had said that only two incidents of mob lynchings took place in 2017—one in Maharashtra and the other in Rajasthan. According to data journalism website IndiaSpend, during the first six months of 2017, there were 18 cases of assault on rumours of cow slaughter. The year 2017 was the worst year as far as this kind of violence is concerned.

There is an anti-BJP environment building on cases of lynching. Shiromani Akali Dal, an ally of the ruling NDA, has said that they will raise their voice against lynching whether the coalition remains or breaks. Voices are being raised against the role of the BJP leaders, police and administration in the lynching that took place recently in Alwar. The killing of Akbar alias Rakbar in Alwar is the 205th such incident in Rajasthan. All these incidents have had the same pattern.

Kavita Srivastava of the PUCL says that in the entire belt of Mewat in Rajasthan, Muslims in large numbers trade in milk and rear cows. "A huge racket of extortion in the name of cows is flourishing here. The BJP administration in the state has been able to create an environment of fear here,” says Srivastava.

“What can be more tragic and ironical that the fact that the people who were accused of assaulting and killing Pehlu Khan on April 1, 2017, have been let free. Many of them were named in Pehlu Khan’s statement before he succumbed to his injuries,” noted Srivastava.

Even now, many union ministers are issuing statements in favour of the violent mob. In Rajasthan, there have been several instances of mob lynchings over the recent past, including that of Abdul Gaffar Qureshi in Nagaur district May 30, 2015, Pehlu Khan in Alwar on April 1, 2017, Zafar Khan in Pratapgarh on June 16, 2017, and Bhagat Ram Meena in Sikar on September 10, 2017.

(Translated into English by Pragati Saxena)