REGRET FETING CONVICTS, SAYS JAYANT SINHA
NEWDELHI:Union minister Jayant Sinha on Wednesday expressed “regret” after facing criticism for felicitating six convicted cow vigilantes at his home in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh last week.
“I have said many times that the matter is still sub judice. It won’t be fair to talk on this. Law will take its own course. We have always worked towards punishing the guilty and sparing the innocent,” Sinha told a news agency in Ranchi on Wednesday.
“If by garlanding them (Ramgarh lynching case convicts) an impression has gone out that I support such vigilantism, then I express regret over it,” he added.
Sinha had last Thursday welcomed six of the seven men convicted for lynching a 55-year-old Muslim meat trader in Ramgarh in June last year.
The Hazaribagh MP on Saturday justified his action, stating that he was merely “honouring the due process of law” by welcoming with garlands and sweets the eight convicted men.
He clarified his position by pointing out the high court order suspending the sentence and released the convicts on bail.
Yashwant Sinha, his father and former BJP leader, had tweeted to say that “I did not approve of my son’s action.”