Mob lynching pains me but don't insult Jharkhand: Modi

Addressing the Rajya Sabha, PM Modi today broke his silence on the lynching of a young man by a mob in Jharkhand, saying it has pained him and the guilty must be severely punished.

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said the lynching of a young man by a mob in Jharkhand had pained him but said it was unfair to blame the entire state for it.

Breaking his silence on the crime which took place over a week ago, Modi, speaking in the Rajya Sabha, slammed the Congress for describing Jharkhand as the factory of mob lynching and said no one had the right to insult a state.

"The lynching in Jharkhand has pained me. It has saddened others too. But some people in the Rajya Sabha are calling Jharkhand a hub of lynching. Is this fair? Why are they insulting a state?" he said in his reply to the Motion of Thanks to President Ram Nath Kovind's address to Parliament.

"None of us has the right to insult Jharkhand," the Prime Minister added.

Modi said irrespective of whether such a killing takes place in Jharkhand or Kerala or West Bengal, the country should have a common stand. "Only then we will be able to halt the violence and those indulging in violence will be punished."

The remarks came two days after the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, condemned the incident of mob lynching in Jharkhand's Seraikela district.

Azad has said that Jharkhand has turned into a factory of mob lynching.

Tabrez Ansari, 22, died in a hospital after he was thrashed by a mob at Dhatkidih village on June 20 on suspicion of theft. He was also forced to shout "Jai Shri Ram" slogans.

Ansari's wife has questioned the role of the police in her husband's death, alleging he was not given timely medical treatment.