Tabrez Ansari Lynching Case: Four years after Tabrez Ansari was lynched by a mob in Jharkhand, a court in Seraikela on Wednesday handed all ten convicts a 10-year jail term under section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of IPC, ANI reported.
Ten of the 13 accused in the case were convicted by Jharkhand's Seraikela court. According to the prosecution lawyer Altaf Hussain, two accused were acquitted by the court while one died during the trial, as per a Hindustan Times report.
"Ten accused, including the main accused Prakash Mandal alias Pappu Mandal, have been convicted under section 304 and other sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Though charges were framed under section 302 (murder) as well, the court held them guilty under 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and other sections of the IPC," public prosecutor Ashok Kumar Rai said.
"We would pray for maximum punishment of life imprisonment for the accused when the court decides on the quantum of punishment on July 5," Rai was quoted as saying by HT.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) was set up to probe the incident and two policemen were suspended for alleged dereliction of duty. The arrested accused in the case are: Prakash Mandal alias Pappu Mandal, Kamal Mahato, Sunamo Pradhan, Premchand Mahali, Sumant Mahato, Madan Nayak, Chamu Nayak, Mahesh Mahali, Kunal Mahali, Satyanarayan Nayak, Bhim Sen Mandal, Vikram Mandal and Atul Mahali. The SP even informed that chargesheet has been filed against Vikram Mandal and Atul Mahali.
Tabrez Ansari, 24, was beaten to death for allegedly attempting burglary at a house in Dhatkidih village on the intervening night of June 17-18, 2019. He was handed over to the police by the villagers on June 18 and was sent to jail the same day. He later fell sick and died during treatment on June 22 morning.
Following the incident, Tabrez’s wife Sahistha Parveen lodged a murder case against one Prakash Mandal and others who were unidentified. Names of the other 12 other accused were added by the police through the course of the investigation.
Later, in a unique turn of events, Police dropped murder charges against all the accused in the mob lynching case of Tabrez Ansari in Jharkhand's Saraikela- Kharsawan as the final post-mortem report indicated cardiac arrest as the reason for his death. As per reports, Ansari died due to cardiac arrest and Police have submitted the charge sheet in court recommending initiation of trial in the case under section 304 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) instead of section 302 (murder) earlier.
While the quantum of punishment under Section 302 is death or imprisonment for life and fine, the penalty under Section 304 is imprisonment for life or imprisonment for ten years or fine or both. Videos showing Ansari being beaten up while tied to a pole had gone viral on social media. His tormentors were seen forcing him to chant 'Jai Shri Ram' and 'Jai Hanuman'.
Police said that the chargesheet was filed based on the post-mortem report. Now the case will be treated as a culpable homicide not amounting to murder. Based on the FIR of Ansari, a murder case had been slapped against 11 people who had thrashed Ansari. Ansari was caught by villagers with a stolen bike and was thrashed in Seraikela-Kharsawa district on June 17.
"The final post-mortem report indicated that it was not a pre-planned murder of Tabrez Ansari. As per the post-mortem report Tabrez Ansari died due to cardiac arrest. The report also mentioned fracture in the brain," said Kartik, SP of Seraikela-Kharsawa district told the news agency.
However, following the public outrage, police filed later filed a supplementary chargesheet bringing back the murder charge on the accused.