Rajnath's statement on mob lynching not satisfactory: Shashi Tharoor

Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday termed the mob lynching incidents "unfortunate" as he emphasised on social media being misused to spread fake news.

Addressing the Lok Sabha, Rajnath Singh said that the Centre has directed social media sites to regulate norms accordingly to curb the issue.

"These are unfortunate incidents. We had issued an advisory on this recently, and one in 2016 also. Social media being used to spread fake news and rumours is also a reason. We have asked social sites for regulation," Singh said.

Rajnath Singh further asked state governments to take "appropriate actions" as he was answering a question raised by KC Venugopal of the Congress party during Zero Hour.

Following the Home Minister's statement, the Congress party which has been protesting against the BJP on the matter staged a walkout from the house along with RJD and CPI-M members.

Expressing dissatisfaction to the entire issue, senior Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP, Shashi Tharoor said, "The home minister's statement in Lok Sabha on mob lynching was not satisfactory at all, that is why we staged a walkout from the House. This is not a game of ping-pong that states and Centre keep shifting responsibilities."

Earlier in the day, the Congress raised slogans against Civil Aviation Minister Jayant Sinha for garlanding men convicted of lynching a meat trader in Jharkhand recently.

Congress leader KC Venugopal asked why one of the members of the Union Council of Ministers was found "garlanding" the mob lynching accused.

According to media reports, this year, at least 20 peoplehave died in lynching cases across the country so far.

(With inputs from ANI)