The government has held that maintaining law and order is the state's responsibility.
The death of a man at the hands of a mob in Alwar found resonance for a second day in parliament today as the opposition attacked the government over the wave of hatred sweeping the country. While in Rajya Sabha, the Trinamool Congress demanded a law to prevent killings by cow vigilantes, Dalit leader Mayawati accused the BJP of "allowing innocent people to be killed".
Raising the issue through a zero hour mention, Shanta Chhetri of Trinamool Congress cited media reports to say that "88 precious lives have been lost (in lynching incidents) since this government came to power." Pointing to Supreme Court's comment that a new law is need to ban mob killings and violence by vigilante groups, she asked what the government has done to check such incidents.
Top BJP sources, however have said no new law is required in this matter. The government has always held that maintaining law and order is the state's responsibility.
"By allowing innocent people to be killed through mob lynching, the BJP has made the country unsafe and this will always be remembered in the history," Mayawati said today. "Along with the injustice and violence towards Dalits, and minorities, this black spot will never go away. This is saddening for the country," the former Chief Minister added.
Clash over the Alwar killing started yesterday in parliament as the matter was raised in both Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha. Congress chief Rahul Gandhi asked why it took Rajasthan police three hours to take the injured man to a hospital.
The BJP was quick to hit back. Acting finance minister Piyush Goyal accused Mr Gandhi of playing divisive politics and Union minister Smriti Irani said Mr Gandhi was practicing "vulture politics".
The postmortem report said 28-year-old Rakbar Khan had died of "shock" from the injuries sustained in the beating.