The family of Jharkhand lynching victim Tabrez Ansari said that such crimes would not stop with just punishment for the guilty and stricter laws were also needed, The Quint reported on Friday.

“If there is no strict law, then such an incident can happen to another Tabrez Ansari,” Maulana Mohammad Masroor Alam, Ansari’s uncle, told the news website. “Till when will we suffer like this? Miscreants need to think twice before committing such a crime.”

Ansari was caught by a mob in Dhaktidih village in Seraikela-Kharsawan district of Jharkhand on June 18 when he was allegedly attempting to steal a motorcycle. He was reportedly tied to a pole and beaten for 12 hours. The police then took him into custody and he was sent to judicial remand. Ansari fell ill on June 22 and was taken to a hospital, where he died. According to the first information report, the mob had forced Ansari to chant “Jai Shri Ram” and “Jai Hanuman”.

On September 10, the Jharkhand Police dropped murder charges against the 11 accused in the lynching case, and charged them with culpable homicide not amounting to murder. Authorities had then said there was no evidence to support the claim that Ansari had been murdered as postmortem reports indicated he suffered a cardiac arrest. Over a week later, the police reinstated murder charges against the accused after a fresh medical report.

The new charges were part of a supplementary chargesheet, which said that the murder charges were earlier dropped due to the initial postmortem report and were reinstated as police found the viral video of Ansari’s assault had not been tampered with.

Ansari’s wife Shahista Pervez told The Quint that she wanted all of the accused to be charged under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code. She claimed that the primary accused had not been charged with murder and demanded strictest punishment for all the accused.

The family also thanked members of the civil society and the media for rallying against the police’s decision to drop the murder charges. Alam said the officials took action only after they were pressured through protests and media reports.

Alam recounted that after the video of Ansari’s assault went viral, civil society group United Against Hate reached out to him. Following this, protests were held in the country and abroad. He also called for capital punishment for all the accused.

“There are so many mob lynching stories that come up every day. Fifty to hundred people catch hold of an innocent person, tie him up and beat him to death, be it on the allegations of exporting beef, robbery, child-lifting rumours, communal tensions or making the victim shout ‘Jai Shri Ram’ or ‘Jai Hanuman’,” Alam said.
These incidents were tarnishing the reputation of India and will lead to the downfall of the country, which the government should consider, he added.

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