Anti-Lynching Bill: A Highly Positive Step Against the Fascist Barbarism – SDPI

Dehlan Baqavi, National Vice-President of Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) welcomed the legislation initiated by the West Bengal Assembly against lynching. He congratulated Mamata Banerjee for this highly positive and timely step that would bring the right-wing Hindutva fascist street-rouges to book. WB assembly passed the Anti-Lynching Bill last Friday. The bill introduced by the chief minister Mamata Banerjee defines lynching as any attempt or act of violence 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 ground.” The proposed punishments in the bill such as a maximum punishment of life imprisonment and fines ranging from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh for the offence, imprisonment up to three years and a fine of maximum Rs 1 lakh to those who are found guilty of assisting or interfering with the accused, a maximum one-year jail term and a fine up to Rs 50,000 for “publishing, communicating or disseminating offensive materials by any method – physical or electronic,” maximum prison term of three years and fine up to Rs 1 lakh to those who create “a hostile environment for a person or a group of persons” will certainly deter the street-roguery of the Hindutva goons, hoped Dehlan. ‘Mob lynching’ is the pet-name conferred by the pro-fascist media on the blatant and brutal goonda activity by the Hindutva fascists of beating to death human beings on the streets for not chanting jaisriram or for eating beef. This hooliganism with the acquiescence of the rulers have almost become a routine in the states ruled by BJP and its allies. Muslims and Dalits are the prime victims of this roguery, and so, the culprits in these cases are not at all punished which gives a message to the perpetrators that it is not a crime if the victims of this brutality are Muslims or Dalits. The legislation in WB is the right message to the fascists engaged in the anti-human activity of lynching, said Baqavi and he urged all other non-BJP states to follow suit WB in enacting stringent law to end this hooliganism of beating people to death on the streets.