India: Jharkhand court gives 10-year jail term to all convicted in 2019 Tabrez Ansari lynching case

A court in India’s eastern Jharkhand state has given a 10-year jail sentence to 10 convicts in the 2019 lynching case of Tabrez Ansari.

On June 17, Ansari was beaten up after he was accused of trying to steal a motorcycle. He later succumbed to his injuries.

The video of the incident had gone viral that purportedly showed a mob forcing Ansari to chant gods' names— 'Jai Shri Ram' and 'Jai Hanuman' —in the Saraikela Kharsawan district of Jharkhand.

He died five days later. His family claimed that the police denied him treatment despite his injuries.

The verdict was pronounced on June 27 by Additional District Judge Amit Shekhar ruling the 10 men "guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder", PTI news agency reported.

The judge also slapped a fine of Rs 15,000 ($182 approx.) on each of them.

Prime accused was already in jail

The prime accused, Prakash Mandal alias Pappu Mandal, was already in jail, while the others were taken into custody after they were convicted by the court last week.

One of the accused Kushal Mahali died in the course of the trial.

The convicted persons - Bhim Singh Munda, Kamal Mahato, Madan Nayak, Atul Mahali, Sunamo Pradhan, Vikram Mandal, Chamu Nayak, Prem Chand Mahali, Mahesh Mahali – were taken into custody soon after they were convicted by the court.

The incident in the state, which was ruled by the BJP at that time, sparked a national political furore. The opposition parties had even raised the issue in the parliament and disrupted the proceedings for a few days.

Even the police were slammed for not invoking stringent murder charges against the accused. They relented after immense pressure and added murder charges in a supplementary charge sheet.

Lynching sparked a national furore

On June 25, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who was the Member of Parliament at that time, termed the lynching a "blot on humanity" and said the "silence" of powerful voices in the BJP-ruled central and state governments over the incident is shocking.

The following day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Rajya Sabha (upper house) said that he was “pained” by the lynching and the guilty must be severely punished.

Ansari was working as a labourer in Pune. He had come home to celebrate Eid. On the night of the incident, locals at Dhatkidih village caught him over suspicion of trying to steal a motorcycle. He was tied to a pole and beaten up with sticks through the night.

(With inputs from agencies)

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