Protest held to restore murder case in Tabrez Ansari lynching case 

A protest was organised on Friday at Jharkhand Bhawan in New Delhi against dropping of the murder charge by police in Tabrez Ansari’s mob lynching case.

The police in its chargesheet has dropped the charge of murder after two and half months of the incident that took place in June this year.

The protestors demanded that the persons who had assaulted Tabrez Ansari be booked under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code.

They gave a memorandum to the office of the Jharkhand Chief Minister via the state’s Resident Commissioner in New Delhi which said that Tabrez Ansari’s lynching was not just the murder of an individual but that of the country’s Constitution as well.

Rejecting the police claims that a cardiac arrest led to Ansari’s death, the memorandum said that he died because of the “beating he endured” and due to “negligence of the police”.

They demanded that the policemen who neglected their duty should also be booked under relevant sections of the IPC.

Ansari was beaten up by a mob on June 17 on allegation of being a bike lifter in Seraikela-Kharswan district of Jharkhand. He died on June 22 in a hospital.

The Jharkhand police now say that as per post mortem report, Ansari died of “cardiac arrest” and thus dropped murder charges against all 11 accused.

The protesters led by United Against Hate (UAH), an organisation that responds to hate crimes in the country, also sought Chief Minister Raghubar Das’s intervention to ensure justice in the Tabrez Ansari case.

Umar Khalid, a member of UAH said that instead of taking Tabrez to hospital, the police took him to jail. He later succumbed to his injuries.

“Tabrez Ansari could have been saved if the police had honestly discharged their duty. But they appeared to have connived with the mob,” Khalid said.

The protesters also reminded the Chief Minister that incidents of mob lynching have been “absolutely alarming”. They appealed the CM to implement the Supreme Court guidelines in the case of State versus Tehsin Poonawala to prevent mob lynching.

Noted social activist Himanshu Kumar said that mob lynching is a “political project” of “the BJP and RSS” which endangers not just Muslims but other sections of the society as well.

Earlier, a toll-free number 1800-3133-600-00, named Helpline Against Hate, was launched in July this year to assist the victims of hate crimes.