According to a report, a high level committee is set up to look into the matter of mob violence and lynching in India. The India heads of global internet and social media firms may soon have to face criminal proceedings if their platforms are used to spread fake news and they fail to deal with fake news.

In July, the government faced massive criticism over 35 deaths in the country owing to mob lynching, many of them triggered by fake news spread over social media. The government had formed a high level committee chaired by the Union Home Secretary to deliberate the matter of mob violence and make recommendations. The move came after the Supreme Court had asked the central government to enact a law to deal with incidents of lynching.

Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba-headed committee, which has submitted its report to Home Minister Rajnath Singh, feels that social media companies and instant messengers such as WhatsApp need to take responsibility for not tracing and thereafter blocking malicious content that has the potential to lead rumour-mongering and incidents of lynching.

The report depicts that, the committee has also sought the appointment of superintendent police in each districts as the nodal officer to deal with cases of lynching. However, these are just recommendations and final view will be taken by a Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Rajnath Singh.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thawar Chand Gehlot are members of the GoM. The GoM will submit its recommendations to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.