Mob lynching became epidemic now: Swara Bhasker supports intellectuals' letter to PM Modi
Mumbai, July 25 (IBNS): Supporting the letter sent by 49 intellectuals to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over mob lynching, actress Swara Bhasker said the practice of beating people has become epidemic, media reports said.
Swara, who had campaigned for several anti-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) politicians including Kanhaiya Kumar in the Lok Sabha polls, said she can't deny the fact that mob lynching is on the rise.
Intellectuals on Wednesday wrote a letter to Modi saying the slogan in the name of God has become a "war-cry".
Among the 49 intellectuals are filmmakers Adoor Gopalakrishan, Shyam Benegal, Anurag Kashyap, Aparna Sen, Goutam Ghose, Kaushik Sen, actor Soumitra Chatterjee, historian Ram Chandra Guha.
The letter reads, "...'Jai Shree Ram' has become a provocative "war-cry" today that leads to law and order problems, and many lynching take place in its name. It is shocking that so much violence should be perpetrated in the name of religion!"
Citing the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reports, which states no less than 840 incidents of atrocities took place only in 2016, the intellectuals said, "The lynching of Muslims, Dalits and minorities must be stopped immediately."
The letter also highlighted the report claiming 254 religious identity-based hate crimes were reported between January 1, 2009 and October 29, 2018.
"About 90% of these attacks were reported after May 2014, when your government assumed power nationally," the letter reads.
Though the Prime Minister Narendra few days ago had condemned the incidents of mob-lynching in the parliament, the intellectuals felt that was not "enough".
"You have criticised such lynching in Parliament Mr. Prime Minister, but that is not enough! What action has actually been taken against the perpetrators? We strongly feel that such offences should be declared non-bailable, and the exemplary punishment should be meted out swiftly and surely. If life imprisonment without parole can be the sentence in cases of murder, why not for lynchings, which are even more heinous?" the letter reads.
Image Credit: twitter.com/ReallySwara
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