In the 2019 Tabrez Ansari lynching case, a court in Jharkhand’s Seraikela-Kharswan district on Wednesday sentenced 10 individuals to 10 years of arduous imprisonment.
Ansari, 22, was assaulted, bound to an electricity pole, and forced to chant “Jai Shri Ram” and “Jai Hanuman” by the convicts who had accused him of stealing. He later passed away.
District Judge Amit Shekhar found the 10 defendants guilty in the case after four years.
On Wednesday, he announced the severity of the punishment over video conferencing under strict security and gave all of the guilty parties 10 years in solitary imprisonment in accordance with IPC Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder).
Two accused people were acquitted and another died during the trial. Each of them were fined Rs 15,000. The lynching took place in the early hours of June 18 in Saraikela Kharsawan’s Dhatkidih village.
Ansari complained of nausea, vomiting, and chest pain four days later, on the morning of June 22, when he was being held in imprisonment for stealing. He also passed out at that point.
He was taken by ambulance to the sadar hospital and subsequently transferred to the Tata Main Hospital in Jamshedpur, where he was pronounced dead. Ansari, a laborer, and welder who worked in Pune, had returned home to celebrate Eid.
“The copy of the judgment has not been made available until now,” said additional public prosecutor Ashok Ray. All 10 were found guilty and sentenced to 10 years of isolation in jail and a fine of Rs. 15,000 by the court.
Ansari was seen appealing to the mob in a video of the incident to stop the assault. Around 6 am, police arrived on the scene. They noted down Ansari’s statement around 9.30 am, during which he allegedly “admitted” that he had perpetrated the theft alongside two other individuals. After then, he was taken to jail and brought before the court.
However, after Ansari passed away on June 22, a case was filed against the villagers under a number of IPC sections, including Section 295 A (deliberate and malicious conduct, intended to outrage religious sentiments of any class by insulting its religions or religious beliefs), which is a crime punishable by up to life in prison.
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