Questions You Need Answers to Before the #MASUKA Law Is Unveiled

The biggest challenge to MASUKA is garnering the requisite political will and fighting off naysayers.

The proposal for MASUKA law will be unveiled on 7 July.

(Photo: The Quint)

On Friday, 7 July 2017, a group of people who came together only a month ago, will present to the public their proposal for a new law to help combat the rising waves of mob lynchings in our country.

The National Campaign Against Mob Lynching was founded by youth leaders Tehseen Poonawalla, Shehla Rashid, Kanhaiya Kumar and Jignesh Mewani last month, as a response to the rising number of mob lynchings.

Since then, the murders of DSP Ayub Pandith, Hafiz Junaid and Alimuddin, have taken place, which drew a strong response in the form of #NotInMyName protests. Even the Prime Minister finally broke his silence to condemn lynchings by self-proclaimed gau rakshaks.

Also Read: PM Modi Ends Silence, Says Killing Over ‘Gau Bhakti’ Unacceptable

A number of prominent figures have come out in support of MASUKA.

Prior to the launch of the Manav Suraksha Kanoon (MASUKA), prepared by a Drafting Committee headed by Senior Advocate Sanjay Hegde, we sat down with key figures behind the launch of the movement to discuss the problem and their hopes for MASUKA.

The biggest challenge to a law such as MASUKA is garnering the requisite political will, and fighting off the naysayers. Tehseen Poonawalla believes that:

Also Read: Is MASUKA Really the Answer to India’s Mob Lynching Epidemic?

Shehzad Poonawalla, a Congress member and lawyer, says that this is a bipartisan bill, not a political gimmick. He even suggests that there is cross-party support, with BJP MPs willing to table the bill as a private member's bill, if necessary.

Anas Tanwir, a lawyer who worked on the drafting of the bill, stresses that the bill does not discriminate on the basis of religion – all victims of lynching are covered under it.

There has been criticism from even more informed members of the public that this law is not the solution, but instead police reform is required.

The issue of police reform is actually one of the cornerstones of the draft MASUKA, making policemen responsible for failing to control mobs, and suspending them where they fail to do their job.

Sanjay Hegde, in response to our questions about how MASUKA differs from existing law, says that:

All of us are individual minorities. Each of us have a dimension where we could be a minority... This law aims to protect the individual minority, at the street level against being attacked by majority, who have a feeling of immunity when they are in a mob

The bill also seeks to ensure that the victims of such attacks and their families are rehabilitated and compensated, with mandatory state aid to be provided, as well as payment to the victims' families of the fines paid by perpetrators. This is particularly important in communally sensitive incidents like Pehlu Khan's lynching in Rajasthan, where his family received little help from the state for months after the incident.

Tehseen, after watching the Pehlu Khan video, said that compensation and rehabilitation must be made mandatory.

There is a clause for compensation and rehabilitation in the law. It must not be at the discretion of the government, but must be made mandatory. You are destroying not just one human life, but that of the entire family

Tehseen Poonawala

One of the dangers of the law is it being misused and misapplied, the way sedition law is by lower courts and police. Pranjal Kishore explains that this is also addressed as there will be special courts meant to deal with cases under this law.

The session concluded with a powerful message from Sanjay Hegde for the country about the climate of hostility and hate that seems to pervade it at present, and the hopes he has for MASUKA.

I was about five or six years old, in Bombay. It was the Shiv Sena movement against South Indians and my mother told me, don’t speak in Kannada on the streets of Bombay; I was very afraid. I am fifty-two today. I want my children and their children not to be afraid. A fear-free India, where our head is held high, that is what I want every political party to do, and that is what our Constitution promises us. And I hope to see that day

Sanjay Hegde

(The Quint will be Live from Constitutional Club at 4 pm on Friday. Stay tuned for comments from Shehla Rashid, Kanhaiya Kumar, and others)