Government forms GoM and Committee to frame law against lynching

Union Government has created a Group of Ministers (GoM) and a high-level committee to deliberate and make recommendations for a separate penal provision on incidents of mob violence.
The GoM will be headed by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, whereas the committee will be headed by Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba.

Structure and Objective of the Gauba committee:

• It will include secretaries of departments of Justice, Legal Affairs, Legislative Department and Social Justice and Empowerment as its members.
• It will suggest measures and legal framework to effectively deal with incidents of mob violence and lynching.
• It will submit its recommendations to the GoM in four weeks.

About the Group of Ministers (GoM):

• GoM includes: Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thaawar Chand Gehlot.
• It will examine recommendations given by Gauba committee and submit its report to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

What led to this development?

• The move came after recent Supreme Court direction to central government on the issue of mob violence and lynching.
• The apex court had denounced sweeping incidents of lynching as an affront to the rule of law and called for law to deal with such horrendous acts of mobocracy.
• It had passed a series of "preventive, remedial and punitive" measures to deal with lynchings and mob vigilantism.
• It had made Centre and state governments accountable for mob violence and lynching and had asked them to take steps to curb and stop dissemination of irresponsible and explosive fake messages and videos on social media platforms which incite such incidents.

Question:

Q. What is the high-level committee formed to deliberate and make recommendations for a separate penal provision on incidents of mob violence, called?
a. Gadkari Committee
b. Gauba Committee
c. Swaraj Committee
d. None of the above