Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy said on Wednesday that the Centre has zero tolerance for incidents of communal violence. Replying to a query during Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha, the minister said incidents of communal violence have declined from 823 in 2013 to 708 in 2018, PTI reported.
Reddy said curfews were frequently imposed earlier but it was no longer the case. The minister said that earlier, the Intelligence Bureau used to keep track of the incidents, but the records are compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau since 2014.
Reddy said the maintenance of public order and the police forces are state subjects. “However, government monitors internal security and law and order situation in the country, and issues appropriate advisories from time to time to maintain peace, public tranquility and communal harmony,” he said. “Government also deploys CAPFs [Central Armed Police Forces] to aid and assist state governments to maintain law and order and public tranquility.”
He also claimed that there is no common pattern of mob lynching in the country. “Available data shows that there is no common pattern of mob lynching and incidents have happened in different states at different times,” he said. “Incidents have happened in different states ruled by different political parties.”
Reddy said such incidents have been reported from Tripura, West Bengal and Kerala also, and have happened in the past. Earlier in the day, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said incidents of lynching against minorities and Dalits have become too common in the last five years.
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