Alwar lynching case: Proof points to custodial death

CENTRE ASKS STATES TO APPOINT NODAL OFFICER; TASK FORCE TO CHECK LYNCHING

Rajasthan Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria said on Tuesday that evidence in the Rakbar Khan case suggested it was a custodial death and the state government has taken steps to get a judicial probe conducted.

He also said an initial compensation of Rs 1.25 lakh had been ordered for the family of the deceased. “We have written to the additional chief judicial magistrate to initiate a probe,” Kataria told reporters at a press conference here.

In cases of custodial death, a committee constituted at the district level takes decisions regarding compensation to the family members of the deceased, Kataria said. He said a sessions judge normally heads such a committee.

On lines of the Pehlu Khan lynching case, the state government has ordered a compensation of Rs 1.25 lakh to Rakbar Khan’s family. Further compensation will be provided based on the recommendations of the district legal committee, he added.

Meanwhile, the government will enact a law, if necessary, to curb the incidents of lynching, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on Tuesday amid Opposition out- cry over the growing number of such cases.

Singh also said the government has taken the issue seriously and would look at taking stringent action against the culprits, as the ruling coalition faced a scathing attack from the Congress, the Trinamool Congress and the Left parties in the Lok Sabha over the rising cases of lynching.

Opposition members created a din during the Zero Hour, and many of them rushed to the Well, as a visibly peeved Speaker Sumitra Mahajan allowed some of the lead- ers to raise the issue after papers were laid.

To check incidents of lynching, the Centre on Tuesday asked all states to appoint an Sp-rank officer in each district, set up a special task force for gathering intelligence and closely monitor social media contents, so that no one is attacked on suspicion of child-lifters or cattle-smugglers.

The Union Home Ministry also said wherever it is found that a police officer or an officer of the district administration has failed to comply with the directions to prevent, investigate and facilitate expeditious trial of any such crime of mob violence and lynching, it should be considered as an act of deliberate negligence and misconduct, and stern action must be taken against the official concerned.

The move came in the wake of the constitution of a Group of Ministers (GOM), headed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, and a committee, led by the Union home secretary on Monday, to suggest a legal framework to check incidents of lynching.