In a brazen display of complete disregard for the law, Union Minister Jayant Sinha of the BJP garlanded 8 people convicted in the lynching of Alimuddin Ansari, a coal trader from Jharkhand. Sinha felicitated the men after welcoming them to his residence in Hazaribagh in Jharkhand.
The men who had been convicted by a special fast track court in Ramgarh in March 2018, had recently had their sentences suspended by the Jharkhand High Court pending a decision on their appeal against the lower court’s judgment.
45 year old Alimuddin Ansari was lynched by a mob of nearly 100 people in Bazartand in Ramgarh district on suspicion of transporting beef in his vehicle in June 2017. They dragged him outside his vehicle and beat him with sticks and pieces of meat. The mob also set his car on fire.
Ansari was rescued by the police who arrived on the spot in 30 minutes even as he was still being assaulted before a crowd that cheered the assailants. He was first taken to Sardar Hospital in Ramgarh, but transferred to Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences, Ranchi because of the severity of his injuries. It was at the second hospital that Ansari breathed his last. Ansari left behind six children including three daughters. He was the only earning member in the family.
All of the 11 accused – including a local BJP leader Nityanand Mahato – were convicted under IPC Section 302 (murder). In addition, three of them were convicted under Section 120B (conspiracy) – indicating that the court was convinced that the attack was pre-meditated.
The fact that a BJP leader, that too a Union Minister, would felicitate people convicted under murder and conspiracy charges, reeks of impunity. The fact that the victim in the case was a Muslim also highlights the underlying anti-minority bias of the leader. Infact, faced with scathing criticism in wake of the garlanding, Sinha appeared to justify his actions in a series of tweets saying, “I have repeatedly expressed my misgivings about the Fast-Track Court judgement sentencing each accused to life imprisonment. I am pleased that the Hon’ble High Court will hear the matter as a statutory court of appeal to test the correctness of the Fast-Track Court order.”
His entire twitter thread where he appears to suggest that innocent men had been wrongfully convicted may be read here.