Ghazanfar Abbas, IndiaTomorrow.net,

New Delhi, July 12: The leaders and volunteers of MASUKA team were detained at Vijay Chowk a short while ago when they were to make a pledge on the Constitution against the growing culture of mob violence and mob lynching.

MASUKA team under detention at Parliament Street Police Station in New Delhi (Photo tweeted @tehseenp)

Those detained include civil rights activist and main brain behind MASUKA Tehseen Poonawalla and his lawyer brother and political activist Shehzad Poonawalla besides over 50 youths and social activists. They have been kept at the Parliament Street Police Station.

Talking to IndiaTomorrow.net, Tehseen Poonawalla said: "On the day when Pehlu Khan’s killers are given bail, we youngsters who were promising and pledging on the Constitution of India that we will not allow mob violence are detained. I think this is the irony of the time we live in."

He said that MASUKA, now an idea, will become a reality soon.

"But fact of the matter is that nobody can deny MASUKA. MASUKA is now an idea that has become a reality. As much as the government tries to avoid it, MASUKA will be enacted and it will become a reality from Kashmir to Kerala, from West Bengal to Gujarat," said Poonawalla.

Pankhudi Pathak, one of the members of MASUKA team, said: "Our detention was wrong. I am unable to understand how taking oath on Constitution in front of Parliament in our own country can become a sing. It was not a sin earlier."

Some journalists covering the event were also detained at Vijay Chowk.

 MASUKA volunteers before detention at Vijay Chowk in New Delhi on 12 July 2017

Vijay Chowk is one of the areas in the vicinity of the Parliament House where no public gathering or demonstration is allowed.

MASUKA volunteers, some journalists inside Parliament Street Police Station on 12 July 2017

A couple of days back, they had released draft copy of MASUAK - Manav Suraksha Kanoon (law for protection of human being). They had urged the government to enact this measure to check mob lynching.

MASUKA volunteers, some journalists inside Parliament Street Police Station in Delhi on 12 July 2017

In the last three months, around two dozen people, mostly Muslims, have been lynched on cow, beef and child theft rumours in different parts of the country. Most of the lynchings occurred in three BJP-ruled states of Jharkhand, Haryana and Rajasthan.