Speaker Criticizes Raj Bhavan Over Anti-Lynching Bill Stagnation

West Bengal Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee criticized the Raj Bhavan for not signing the 2019 bill aimed to prevent mob lynching. His comments followed four recent lynching deaths. The bill, supported by Left and Congress legislators but not by BJP, remains unsigned by the then-Governor Dhankhar.

In a sharp rebuke on Tuesday, West Bengal Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee criticized the Raj Bhavan for its inaction on a bill passed in 2019 aimed at preventing mob lynching. The Speaker’s comments come in the wake of four recent mob lynching deaths in the state.

The West Bengal (Prevention of Lynching) Bill, passed in August 2019 with support from Left and Congress legislators, was neither supported nor opposed by the BJP, which then had only three MLAs in the assembly. Despite its passage, the bill was not signed by then-Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and was not returned to the assembly for reconsideration.

Banerjee argued that the governor's signature could have deterred the recent mob lynching incidents, stressing the bill includes stringent punishments ranging from three years in prison to the death sentence. He pointed out that the Sarkaria Commission had previously stated that holding onto a bill indefinitely undermines its effectiveness.