Jharkhand lynching: 5 villagers held, 2 cops suspended

KHARSAWAN/JAMSHEDPUR: Five people were arrested and two police officers suspended on Monday for the lynching of 24-year-old Shams Tabrez Ansari in Jharkhand's Saraikela-Kharsawan on June 17. Ansari, who had been working in Pune for 9 years and had got married to 19-year-old Shaista Parveen barely 45 days ago, had come home to celebrate Eid.
Ansari and his friends - Sheikh Imran and Numer Ali - were returning from Jamshedpur to his house in Seraikela-Kharsawan when they were attacked by a mob on suspicion that the motorcycle they were riding was stolen. His family alleged that he was forced to chant 'Jai Sri Ram' and 'Jai Hanuman' by his attackers.
While Imran and Ali managed to escape - they are still missing - the crowd tied Ansari to an electricity pole and beat him up for hours before handing him over in an unconscious state to the police, who charged him with theft. Ansari had no previous criminal case against him.
Cops took a badly bruised Ansari for a preliminary check to the government-run sadr hospital on June 18 where doctors declared him "medically fit". Police then took him to court the same day, where the magistrate ordered that he be sent to prison the same day.
It took authorities another four days before Ansari, whose condition was fast deteriorating, was taken to the sadr hospital in Seraikela once again on June 22. He was unconscious at that time. It was then that Ansari's family reached the hospital where they found him struggling for life and rushed him to Tata Memorial. Doctors at Tata Memorial said Ansari was "brought dead".
Police have also formed a special investigation team to probe the case. Main suspect Bablu Mandal, co-accused Kamal Mahto, Prem Chandra Mandal and S Pradhan are being interrogated. A joint team from the police and civil administration inspected the Seraikela prison and asked inmates about Ansari's health during his stay in jail.
Kharsawan police station in-charge Chandra Mohan Oraon and outpost in-charge Bipin Bihari have been charged with negligence and suspended.
"The cops should have arranged for a thorough medical check-up of the accused, but that was apparently not done," Seraikela SDO Basharat Qayoom said, adding that a departmental inquiry will be initiated against the two.
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References

1. ^{^} Kharsawan (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
2. ^{^} Jamshedpur (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)

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