The BJP-ruled State of Jharkhand once again made headlines for lynching a Muslim and succeeding police apathy, efforts to cover up and the public support for the crime. A youth Tabrez Ansari (24) was beaten for the whole night (June 17-18, 2019) by the people in village Dhatkidih, 35km from Jamshedpur. He was forced to chant “Jai Shri Ram” and “Jai Hanuman” repeatedly by the communally frenzied group. Nobody dared to come forward to stop this vigilante hooliganism on road. The communal bigotry and hatred filled minds controlled the event. Tabrez died four days later (June 22) in judicial custody. The police did not care to provide him with medical assistance as required by law. He was taken to hospital only when his condition deteriorated.
When family members of the victim saw him in unbearable pain and bleeding in the police lock-up, they begged for providing medical care, but the police threatened them with a similar fate. They found the main perpetrator of the violence asking Tabrez, why he was not dead yet in spite of the severe beatings. This shows that he was assaulted with an intention to kill and the perpetrators have a rapport with the police.
“SAB KA VISHWAS!”
After his death, the police arrested 11 people involved in the crime and suspended two police personnel. The police have also sent the video clips surfaced on social media, showing his beating and forcing him to chant slogans of “Jai Sri Ram” and “Jai Hanuman”. This is not strange that local leaders and sympathisers of BJP have come out in support of the arrested accused. Locals are also supporting Ansari’s beating for alleged theft. This is a repetition of set political statement to terrorise the minorities and supporting communal crime. The tacit support of state apparatus in the crime is also a routine as was done in the case of Swami Agnivesh.
News portal “The Cognate” categorised the attackers as “terrorist mob” and held the “Kharsawan Police equally responsible for his killing.” The apathy of police, arriving late, taking him in custody alone, ignoring his beating and registering a theft case against him without mentioning the fatal assault on him and also forcing him to chant religious slogans and also not providing him with medical assistance, which apparently caused his death, all go against the P.M.’s call for winning trust (vishwas) of minorities.
The behaviour of Kharsawan police reminds us of Rakbar Khan (Alwar-20 July 2018) who was thrashed in suspicion of cow smuggling and the police delayed to take him to the hospital before arranging shelter for the cows and taking refreshment. He was left unattended and died in the custody.
THE YOUNG WIDOW
That night the victim was returning from Jamshedpur with his two friends (Irfan and Numer). A group of people stopped them at Dhatkidih village, asked their names. When they found them belonging to the minority community, they started hurling abuses and physically attacking them. Irfan and Numer anyhow succeeded to flee while Tabrez was caught. The mob, filled with religious bigotry, tied him with a tree and started beating with sticks calling him “thief”. The village Pradhan Subhash Mahto told IE, “People started beating “the thief” after he was caught. We tried calling police but could not get them on the phone. So whoever came to know of “the thief” was beating Tabrez Ansari.”
POLICE LAZINESS
The brutal beating continued for the whole night. The police arrived only the next morning around 6 am. They took him away and registered an FIR accusing him of theft. In the FIR the police did not mention his ruthless thrashing. He was also not provided with required medical assistance. As a result, he died of inner injuries including head injuries. “First it was the religiously motivated mob that meted out instant justice, and secondly, the administration committed cold-blooded murder by letting Tabrez die of excruciating pain. To save his life, the police at least could have admitted him in any hospital.” (The Hindu).
Tabrez worked as a welder in Puna for the last eight years. He had come home to celebrate Eid with his newlywed wife Shaista Parveen (21). The victim was due to return to Puna with Shaista on June 24. He married her just two months ago. Tabrez lost his parents at a young age as his wife had lost her father long ago.
MODI “PAINED”
The assault on Tabrez followed a set pattern of communal prejudice in the Modi regime. A week after Tabrez was lynched P.M. Narendra Modi spoke in Rajya Sabha (Upper House of Parliament). He said that he was “pained” by the lynching in Jharkhand. He also said the culprits must be punished. But in the same breath, he rushed to defend the state BJP Government. He said it was wrong to call Jharkhand a hub of lynching for ‘one incident of the crime’. Incidentally, the facts defy his assertions.
The crime records of Jharkhand show that lynching of Tabrez is not an isolated case. It is the 14th case of chauvinism and Hindutva jingoism in the BJP-ruled state in the past four years. With the killing of Tabrez, 11 cases of bigotry and communal violence have been recorded this year itself. While the total number of such incidents since the Modi-led Government came to the power (May 2014) has nationally increased to a staggering 266. The data unequivocally shows that mob lynching is directly connected to the ascent of BJP to power at the Centre. (Factchecker.in)
TRUST OF ALL
After P.M. Narendra Modi came back to power, many welcomed his slogan “sabka vishwas” with his unfulfilled pledge of “sabka saath, sabka vikas” of the last term. Defending the BJP-ruled Jharkhand in lynching cases and looking the other way will not help win the trust of others. In his R.S. speech he said, “Doshiyon ko kadi se kadi saza milnee chahiye (the guilty should be punished severely)”. It is short of assurance that “guilty will be punished.” He also did not show any sympathy to the victim’s family, who lost its bread-earner. The family owes relief by the state.
CONVICTION RECORD
The record of convictions in such cases indicates the lack of commitment to implement the law. In many cases, FIRs were registered against the victims and attackers were left scot-free. In communally jingoistic cases conviction rate in Jharkhand is also very poor while the support of BJP leaders to the guilty had been shamefully open and vocal. It still shocks that men convicted in Alimuddin lynching case (19 June 2017 – Ramgarh) were later honoured by state BJP leaders. The then Union Minister Jayant Sinha travelled to Hazari Bagh to felicitate 8 accused with garlands and grace a group photo with them. And our P.M. was not “pained”! How Alimuddin, Mohd Akhlaq, Pehlu Khan, Mohsin Ali, etc. and Tabrez Ansari can be differentiated? All were the sons of same “Mother India”.
We agree that hate violence is not confined to Jharkhand, but it cannot be denied that leaders of the ruling party rush to condone mob justice, especially if it targets individuals of the minority community or Dalits. It has emboldened vigilante groups in BJP-ruled states. The anti-Constitution and anti-National strategy had vitiated the communal atmosphere which helps BJP reap harvest in elections.
SEPARATE LAW
The Indian Express noted: “Shaken by these incidents, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by the Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra, ruled in July last year that Parliament must “create a separate offence for lynching and provide adequate punishment for the same”. The Court said: “a special law in this field would instil a sense of fear for law amongst the people who involve themselves in such kinds of activities.”
After the court ruling a group of Ministers was set up to look into the matter. But no progress is seen ever since. If Tabrez’s killing has pained our PM, he should also hasten the process of bringing a law to stop hate crime as he did in Child Rape and T.T. cases. His government seems more anxious to unnecessarily criminalise the act of triple talaq, which had already been nullified by the Supreme Court, and no haste in bringing a law for punishing the lynchers! We do not favour rape or T. T. and also do not accept alibi for lynching.
PROVIDE RELIEF
In the present scenario when leaders of the ruling party are openly in support of the guilty, it is hard to be assured that witness and prosecution can do the needful to get the guilty convicted. However, if our Prime Minister is really pained, he should ask the State government not to cover up the case and order adequate monetary assistance to the family of the victim.
[The writer is a civil rights activist and Delhi based journalist; [email protected]]