Ten in Jail
Ten in jail at India-Jharkhand. A court in India sentenced ten men to 10 years in prison for murdering a Muslim man four years ago.
Tabrez Ansari, 24, died days after being attacked by people accusing him of stealing a motorcycle in Jharkhand, India’s easternmost state.
A video of Ansari being forced to chant praising Hindu gods while asking for his life went viral, causing fury in India.
His relatives said that despite his injuries, cops refused to treat him.
The state police department denied any wrongdoing.
The video footage from the night of 19 June 2019 showed a terrified Ansari tied to an electricity pole and being assaulted by the mob, with blood and tears streaming down his face.
His assailants compelled him to shout “Jai Shri Ram,” which translates to “hail Lord Ram” or “victory to Lord Ram” in Hindi.
Ansari did as he was told, but the mob continued to beat him throughout the night. The following day, he was turned over to police, who arrested him for theft. His family said that they were not permitted to see him.
The Hindu mantra that turned into a murder yell
In India, Muslims are beaten and insulted.
On 22 June, Ansari complained of nausea, vomiting and chest pain and was transferred to a hospital but he died from injuries sustained during the attack.
Trial court Judge Amit Shekhar convicted the ten men last Thursday of “culpable homicide not amounting to murder.”
Initially, the authorities were chastised for not introducing the more serious murder charge. Later, in a supplementary charge sheet, they did charge all of the suspects with murder.
However, the judge ruled that there was insufficient evidence to convict the accused of murder.
Ansari’s lynching by a Hindu mob was not an isolated incident – there have been several similar incidents reported in India in recent years where Muslims have been attacked by so-called “cow vigilantes” over rumours that they had eaten beef, or that they were trying to smuggle cows – an animal many Hindus consider holy – for slaughter. Cow slaughter is prohibited in several countries.
Opposition lawmakers have decried the attacks on the minority community. Ansari’s lynching was branded as a “blot on humanity” by senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
According to critics, anti-Muslim violence has increased since 2014 under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government. They claim that the prime minister has not responded promptly or aggressively enough to such attacks.
The administration denies this, pointing out that Mr Modi said he was “pained” by the attack just days after Ansari was killed.
He has previously stated that “killing people in the name of a cow” was “unacceptable.”