Jharkhand police have dropped murder charges against the 11 accused in the killing of Tabrez Ansari. He was thrashed by a mob for alleged theft on June 18 and a video had emerged which purportedly showed that he was forced to chant "Jai Shri Ram" and "Jai Hanuman" in Jharkhand's Saraikela Kharsawan district. He was declared "brought dead" by doctors at the Tata Main Hospital in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand.
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A special investigation team (SIT) was set up to look into the matter. However, reports emerged on Monday that 11 accused were charged under Section 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). Section 304 (murder) was not invoked. Speaking to The Indian Express, Karthik.S. said, "The medical report did not substantiate the murder charge. The final post-mortem report said Ansari died due to cardiac arrest and that a haemorrhage in the head was not fatal."
PM Modi had condemned the incident. "The lynching in Jharkhand has pained me. It has saddened others, too," the prime minister said. Congress president Rahul Gandhi termed it a "blot on humanity" and said the "silence" of powerful voices in the BJP-ruled central and state governments over the incident is shocking. "The brutal lynching of this young man by a mob in Jharkhand is a blot on humanity. The cruelty of the police who held this dying boy in custody for 4 days is shocking as is the silence of powerful voices in the BJP-ruled central and state governments," Gandhi tweeted, along with a still from the video of the incident.
