Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether his Department has held discussions with the Government of India on (a) the recent killing of five nomadic people in Maharashtra state which was filmed and shared on social media and (b) other so-called WhatsApp Lynchings.

Officials from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's India Network and central teams in London monitor closely reports of human rights abuses, raising issues where appropriate with the Government of India. We are in regular contact with minority representatives in India as well as human rights activists and NGOs. While we are aware of this particular issue, it is not one that we have yet raised with the Government of India.