MASUKA Unveiled: What Does The Anti-Lynching Bill Draft Say?

The MASUKA law also proposes rehabilitation and compensation for victims and their families.

The draft of MASUKA, the proposed anti-lynching law unveiled in New Delhi on 7 July. (Photo: Athar Rather/The Quint)

The draft of Maanav Suraksha Kanoon (MASUKA), a new law to address the menace of mob lynching was unveiled at the Constitution Club in New Delhi on 7 July.

The law is being proposed by the National Campaign Against Mob Lynching – founded by youth leaders Tehseen Poonawalla, Shehla Rashid, Kanhaiya Kumar and Jignesh Mewani – as a response to a spate of lynching incidents that have rattled the nation over the last few months.

The drafting committee of the MASUKA, headed by senior Supreme Court lawyer Sanjay Hegde, includes Anas Tanwir and Pranjal Kishore.

The proposed law aims to provide effective protection to vulnerable persons, punish acts of lynching, and provide rehabilitation and compensation for victims and their families.

According to the draft, lynching is defined as:

Any act or series of acts of violence, whether spontaneous or planned, committed to inflict extra judicial punishment, or as an act of protest and caused by the desire of a mob to enforce upon a person or group of persons any perceived legal, societal & cultural norms/ prejudices.

(Photo: The Quint)

(Photo: The Quint)

Earlier in the day, The Quint spoke to Shehla Rashid and Teesta Setalvad who favored the separate law against mob lynching.

Speaking at the event, Prakash Ambedkar, the grandson of BR Ambedkar, said that the ‘sanskriti’ of Manusmriti is being revived and it has become necessary to define what lynching is.

We will use constitutional methods to fight mob lynching. If the government backs this bill and Parliament passes it, a message will go across the nation that the state will not tolerate mob lynching.

Prakash Ambedkar

The draft of the Bill can also be accessed on stopmoblynching.com and is open for public feedback.