The Trinamool Congress government led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will on Friday introduce a stringent Bill in the Legislative Assembly to curb incidents of mob lynching in West Bengal. Sources had earlier told that the West Bengal (Prevention of Lynching) Bill, 2019 will most likely be tabled in the House on August 30.

The bill aims to protect the constitutional rights of vulnerable persons and prevent incidents of lynching and proposes strict action against those found guilty of involvement in such crimes.

According to provisions of the bill, if a person is found guilty of publishing, communicating and disseminating any offensive material either physically or electronically, shall be liable to imprisonment up to one year and a fine up to Rs 50,000.

A senior West Bengal government minister had said earlier that anyone who contributes or enforces a hostile environment on a person or a group of persons shall be punished with imprisonment which may extend up to three years.

The legislation calls for a jail term, which may vary from three years to life imprisonment, for those involved in assaulting and injuring a victim of mob violence.

In case of death, those responsible for the incident would be punished with rigorous life imprisonment and face fine up to Rs 5 lakh, the minister said.
The opposition Congress party has welcomed the move but cautioned the government against its misuse.

Meanwhile, the BJP has termed it as a ploy by the TMC government to settle political scores with the BJP workers and leaders.

Why aren't they bringing any law to stop such political killings in Bengal," state BJP president Dilip Ghosh said.

Reacting to the allegations, state's Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Partha Chatterjee said BJP that the has been trying to vitiate the atmosphere of the state and there have been incidents of lynchings over allegations of being child lifter.