Image used for representational purpose only.
RANCHI: Eight out of 11 persons, sentenced life imprisonment by a Ramgarh Court for lynching Alimuddin Ansari a year back, were granted bail by the Jharkhand High Court on Friday on the grounds of having no substantial evidence against them. Ansari was lynched by a mob of more than 100 cow vigilantes in Ramgarh on suspicion of carrying beef in his car on June 29, 2017.
Incidentally, the Fast Track Court Additional District Judge II Om Prakash started functioning as soon as the charges were framed in the case on December 20, 2016 and it delivered judgment in a record 5 months 29 days' time by hearing the case on day to day basis.
Defense counsel BM Tripathy submitted before the Court that none of the eyewitnesses have named them nor they were seen thrashing the victim in the video. They were only a part of the crowd gathered there when the Ansari was being lynched, said the advocate.
"Eight of the 11 convicts sentenced life imprisonment by the Fast Track Court Additional District Judge II Om Prakash, were granted bail by a division Court of Justice SC Mishra and Justice BB Mangalmurty on Friday after substantial evidences were found against them," said Tripathy.
Conviction was done only on the basis of video footage, which is not justified, he added. The eight persons who were granted bail include - Rohit Thakur, Kapil Thakur, Raju Kumar, Santosh Singh, Uttam Ram, Sikandar Ram, Vikki Sao and Nityanand Mahto. Meanwhile, bail applications of Dipak Mishra and Chotu Verma of Go-Raksha Samiti were turned down by the Court. Matter of Chotu Rana, however, is pending in Juvenile Court. All the 11 accused persons were convicted on March 16 after arguments from both sides were closed on March 5.
