In the wake of recent mob lynchings that rocked the state capital, the Jharkhand government has directed law enforcement agencies to strengthen special district-level committees constituted to avert and probe such incidents in the state and spread awareness among people against taking the law into their own hands.

Additional Director General (ADG) headquarters R.K. Mallick said on Sunday that police were adding more teeth to district level committees in a bid to ensure that incidents of mob lynching are averted by spreading awareness among people and instilling the fear of speedy action if at all any such incident occurs in the state.

“Special committees to control incidents of mob lynching were formed in all districts back in 2017-2018. These committees are being strengthened to avert such incidents and ensure speedy investigation,” Mallick said.

Two men in their twenties were beaten to death by a mob in separate incidents this month over charges of theft. On March 8, Sachin Verma (22) was beaten to death by a mob of 40-odd people within the limits of Kotwali police station on charge of vehicle theft. Later on March 14, Mubarak Khan (27), a resident of Maheshpur in Angara block of suburban Ranchi, was lynched by a mob on charges of stealing a tyre and battery of a bike.

Police have made several arrests in connection with both incidents.

Since most of the lynchings have been reported from rural areas of the state, police teams have been formed to hold awareness campaigns against such crimes in villages, police said.

On Sunday, Ranchi SP (rural) Naushad Alam chaired a meeting with village representatives under the Kanke police station in suburban Ranchi and requested them to spread awareness among fellow villagers.

“We will be meeting village representatives and other influential people of the village and ask them to spread awareness against mob lynching. Villagers will be urged to inform police as soon as they find someone committing a crime and not take the law into their own hands,” said Alam, adding that villagers will also be told about the legal provisions under which they could be charged with murder if they beat up someone and the person dies.

In an earlier order, the Supreme Court had also asked all the states to hold at least one review meeting of such incidents in every three months, police said.

In the wake of several such incidents reported in 2019, then DGP K.N. Choubey had directed police in each district to hold at least one review meeting every month to revisit cases of mob lynching and ensure justice for the kin of those killed.