Lynching of Tabrez Ansari

2019 Tabrez Ansari lynching
File:Tabrez Ansari.jpg
Lok shaba Lok shaba (India)
Location	Dhatkidih,Jharkhand, India
Date	17 June 2019
Target	Tabrez Ansari
Attack type	Lynching
Deaths	1 (Tabrez Ansari)
Injured	0
Perpetrators	Mob

Tabrez Ansari lynching refers to the case of mob lynching of Tabrez Ansari in Jharkhand, India, in which mob allegedly attacked 24 years old Tabrez Ansari by tying him to a tree and beating him brutely for hours on the suspicion of a bike theft. Ansari died after getting beaten for a night. Police was informed next morning. The incident came to light after a video went viral in which the accused was seen beating Ansari and forced to allegedly chant "Jay Shree Ram" and "Jay Hanuman". The case attracted attention due to its communal angle of muslim forced to chant Hindu slogans while getting brutally beaten.

Events

Tabrez Ansari was an orphan and lived in Pune and worked there for seven years. He visited his home town Kadamdih occassionaly on festivals. On the occassion of Eid he visited his hometown Kadamdih.During the visit,on 17 june He went to Jamshedpur with his two friends on the bike of one of his friends.A night before the incident Ansari called his wife, telling her that he is returning from Jamshedpur. While returning he was caught in the Dhatkidih village near Kadamdih village. He was tied to a tree by the mob and brutally beaten on the suspicion of bike theft. While mob was beating him, a video was made by unknown person from the mob. In the video he was allegedly forced to say religious slogans such as "Jay Shree ram" and "Jay Hanuman". On the morning of 18 jume police was informed. Ansari was arrested and locked up in Saraykela Police Station.

Family demands

Tabrez family demanded that the perpetrators be tried under Section 302 (Punishment for murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC)..

Shahista Parveen, Ansari's wife said that his husband was mercilessly beaten as he was a muslim. She doesn't have any in-laws as Tabrez was an orphan and Tabrez was her only support. She demanded justice

Dropping of Charges and reinstating them

An SIT team was made to investigate the case.The Saraikela-Kharsawan district police charge-sheeted 11 of the 13 named accused in the case on July 29, dropping the stringent charge of murder under section 302 of the IPC. The five-member medical panel was set up to look into the death.The new medical report, dated August 6, indicates that Tabrez Ansari suffered a fracture to the skull caused by a "hard and blunt object". It also says that Tabrez Ansari suffered a subarachnoid haemorrhage (bleeding in the space between the brain and the tissue covering the brain) and clotting of blood in the lower layer of the skull. A senior neurologist said that the postmortem report clearly states that there was a grievous injury to the skull i.e. a fracture. He added that the head injury and injuries in other parts of the body turned pale causing a cardiac arrest. The medical report also ruled out that Tabrez had consumed poison. On September 9,2019Police dropped the murder charges in the chargesheet filed in court by giving cardiac arrest as the reason of death, which led to a uproar.Saraikela-Kharsawan Changing the IPC section 302 to 304.Superintendent of Police Karthik S said the murder charge was dropped against 11 accused on the basis of postmortem, medical and forensic reports which said 24-year-old Ansari died of cardiac arrest. In the event of a conviction, section 302 provides for life imprisonment and even the death penalty. Under section 304, a convict can be sentenced to imprisonment for 10 years which may extend to life imprisonment.

Due to this, police was alleged of weakening the case. And on September 18,2019 police filed a supplemetary chargesheet after taking opinion from a board of doctors of the MGM Medical College and Hospital. Changing again IPC from 304 to charges of murder that is IPC 302. Sahista Pervez, wife of deceased Tabrez responded and said that she is happy that accused will face murder charges. She said she wont let anyone off the hook.

Protests and respone

In favour of accused

Although no member of any Hindu organisation was involved in the lynching, but Vishwa Hindu Parishad called this conspiracy and held ralley in favour of the accused.The saffron body also accused a section of politicians and "so-called intellectuals" with "vested interests" of strengthening the "hands of the opponents of the country by instilling in people disaffection for the entire judicial system of the country".

Against accused

This lynching caused a huge uproar and created many debates. This event led to conflicts as muslim man was beaten while forced to chant Hindu religious slogans. People criticised the use of such cry.This incident let to the debate on use "Jay Shree Ram" like slogans during lynching. People crticised it's use as a war-cry.Many people crticised the incident and called it unfortunate. Various protests were held in many cities of India for solidarity with Tabrez and his family. Various twitter trend started in solidarity with the orphan boy and his widow like #JusticeForTabrez and #IndiaAgainstLynchTerror. Opposition Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi termed the lynching a "blot on humanity". In the Indian capital, New Delhi, scores of people, including university students and activists, held a protest at Jantar Mantar close to the parliament house.Holding placards and chanting slogans against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the protesters demanded an end to the violence against Muslims. The public anger prompted Prime Minister Modi to make a comment in parliament, saying he was "pained" by the incident and called for "the strictest possible punishment to the accused".

See also

• Violence against Muslims in India