Mumbai: Mob killings have become an “epidemic”, actor Swara Bhasker said on Wednesday, praising the 49 prominent public figures who have written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking for stronger action over the incidents.
“Mob lynching has become an epidemic in the country today and I don’t think that we can turn our face away from this harsh reality. There’s no point in falsifying it,” news agency ANI quoted the 31-year-old Nil Battey Sannata star as saying at an event in Mumbai.
“I believe that it is very commendable that artists, filmmakers, writers in our country are engaged and affected with whatever is happening in the society,” Bhasker said when asked about the letter by 49 eminent personalities like filmmaker Aparna Sen and historian Ramachandra Guha.
A strong law is the “need of the hour” to contain the “tragic events”, she said.
“I have been trying to talk on the issue of mob lynching for the past 3-4 years and even asked for a Manav Suraksha Kanoon. But it’s sad that things have got worse rather than improving,” Swara Bhasker said.
“It is very important that district authorities, where such incidents happen, take full accountability in the matter. I believe that the PM who has the power to do it will look into the matter,” she said.
Mob attacks were brought into sharp focus on Wednesday, with the letter condemning incidents of lynching, and the alleged weaponisation of the slogan “Jai Shri Ram” into a “war cry”.
“Dear Prime Minister… The lynching of Muslims, Dalits and other minorities must be stopped immediately. We were shocked to learn from the NCRB (National Crime Records Bureau) reports that there have been no less than 840 instances of atrocities against Dalits in the year 2016, and a definite decline in the percentage of convictions,” said the letter also signed by filmmakers Mani Ratnam, Shyam Benegal and Anurag Kashyap among others.
