RANCHI: Hours after murder charges were ‘dropped’ by the Jharkhand Police against 11 persons accused in the lynching of 24-year Tabrez Ansari in Seraikela, Shaista Parveen, wife of the deceased said she would approach the Ranchi High Court for justice.
Tabrez was thrashed for several hours and forced to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Jai Bajrang Bali’ on June 18 after being caught on suspicion of stealing a motorcycle in Seraikela Kharsawan district of Jharkhand. He died of injuries on June 22.
Police claimed the murder charges had to be dropped from the charge sheet filed in court as it would not have held following the medical report which claimed he had died of cardiac arrest. “The charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, which is equally punishable, has been imposed,” said
Seraikela SP S Kartik.
He said “We could not stick any proof to murder and had to drop section 302 after taking a second opinion from doctors of Mahatma Gandhi Medical College in Jamshedpur. We intend to get all the accused persons convicted with maximum sentence,” he said. Shaista’s advocate Altaf said, “The accused persons have been charged under Sections 147 (rioting), 149 (unlawful assembly), 341 (wrongful restraint), 342 (wrongful confinement), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 325 (causing grievous hurt), 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 295A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings.”