By Siddhant Mohan, TwoCircles.net
Maanav Suraksha Kanoon, popularly known as MASUKA, which is a draft law to prevent mob lynching events in the country is still waiting for the enaction and approval from the cabinet. MASUKA was drafted and launched on July 7, but until now no substantial progress has been registered. The drafting committee showed hope that the legislation would be made implemented soon but the NDA government continues to ignore the matter even as the number of deaths due to mob lynching continue to rise.
Moreover, MASUKA is being opposed even before being implemented. Several activist and human rights defenders have claimed that the Indian Constitution has enough number of legislations and sections which can be sufficient to counter the mob lynching incidents. Therefore, a new law is not necessary; the older laws need only to be implemented efficiently.
Shahzad Poonawalla, who is leading the campaign along with Tehseen Poonawalla, Pankhuri Pathak and others, talked with TwoCircles.net on the progress. Poonawalla said, “We have gathered support from at least 11 political parties until now. The number is likely to increase because the law is not limited to any particular religion or race. So more groups will join.”
On July 19, an all-party meet was organised in which Shashi Tharoor (INC), Prakash Ambedkar (Bharatiya Republican Party), Pawan Verma (JD(U)), Manoj Jha (RJD), DIgvijay Singh (INC), Salman Khurshid (INC), MB Rajesh (CPI-M), Sanjay Singh (AAP), TKS Elangovan (DMK), Devashish Jarariya (BSP) and Pankhuri Pathak (SP) took part.
A couple of MPs from the Bharatiya Janata Party have also extended their support to the MASUKA campaign, but they do not want to be identified before the voting on the Bill begins. Poonawalla said, “They have assured us they will talk their party members when the bill comes on the table.”
Moreover, the forerunners of the campaign have also planned to march to the house of Law MInister to demand implementation of MASUKA before the end of the parliamentary session. On August 15, a countrywide online campaign is being planned to gather support from various sections of the society.
When parliament was having a discussion on mob lynchings on July 3, Saugata Roy, MP from West Bengal demanded discussion and implementation on MASUKA in his Lok Sabha speech. The campaign is yet to see the nod from the union government which has not passed any statement on the issue. Poonawalla said, “Modi should come forward and do ‘Jan ki Baat’, rather than doing ‘Man ki Baat’. From his critical remarks on mob lynching incidents, we believe that he also wants to end all such practices. To get all on the same page, we believe a mass and people’s movement shall bring great help.”