The killing of a Muslim man by a mob in Jharkhand has put the BJP on the backfoot and raised questions over the conduct of police in dealing with such cases. According to a report in The Indian Express, the police didn’t act swiftly to save the 22-year-old youth. When the police were informed about the incident, they rushed to the incident site in the Dhatkidih village of Seraikela the district and arrested Tabrez Ansari. Police sent Ansari to the judicial custody on charges of theft and didn’t take him to the hospital for first aid, the report says.
The IE report said that police recorded a confession statement from Ansari but there was no mention of the assault. Ansari was rushed to the civic hospital in Saraikela-Kharsawan district by police on Saturday and later to Tata Main Hospital in Jamshedpur where he was reportedly declared brought dead on Saturday.
On Monday, police arrested 11 locals of Ghatkidih village and suspended two police officials for not handling the matter with sensitivity. An SIT headed by a DSP-rank officer has been constituted to probe the case.
Karthik S, SP, Saraikela-Kharsawan, told The Indian Express that a case was filed against the villagers when police were informed that Ansari was assaulted. He too said that there is a possibility that Ansari didn’t inform police about the assault in his confession statement.
“We had registered a case against the villagers when we were informed of the beating. We arrested one accused initially, and later 10 others. We found that the officer in charge of Kharsawan police station and an ASI did not handle the matter with sensitivity. They did not apprise senior officers of the situation,” Karthik said.
The deceased man’s family said that it was difficult to believe that Ansari didn’t mention to police about the assault. Ansari’s uncle Maqsood Alam said that when he visited his nephew in the police lock-up, he found that the youth was very weak and wasn’t even able to speak. He said that police must have deliberately left a mention of the assault in his confession statement.
“Were the police blind that they did not see that he was badly beaten? Why could the doctors not see his pain?” Alam said.
Also, the FIR filed by police has no mention of the assault. The initial complaint filed against Ansari by Kamal Mahto of Ghatkidih for allegedly stealing a motorcycle also didn’t mention the assault. Mahto is now among those arrested by police for role in the lynching.
According to Ansari’s confession statement which was produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate by the police, the deceased had said that he and two other accused Numair and Irfan scaled walls, climbed on rooftops and stole a motorcycle which didn’t have any registration number in the village. Ansari climbed another rood and found a wallet with Rs 200 in it. Then the trio planned another theft but left after failing to get money. At this house, one family member woke up and shouted ‘thief, thief’.
Ansari said that they all jumped but he couldn’t escape because he had sustained an injury in his leg. He was then caught by the villagers.
Mahto in his complaint said that when the family members realised that thieves have entered the house, they raised an alarm and the villagers captured Ansari. He said that a motorcycle without registration number, wallets and a phone were recovered which were later found to have been stolen. He said that villagers then called the police Ansari was handed over to them.
