Tabrez’s wife moves court against police
Challenges decision not to press murder charges against 11 accused
RANCHI: Sahista Parveen, the wife of alleged mob lynching victim Tabrez Ansari, filed a legal petition on Wednesday, challenging Jharkhand Police’s decision not to press murder charges against 11 accused even as the police defended its move to scale down the charges to culpable homicide.
Her announcement came a day after police filed a charge sheet against 11 accused under section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the IPC in Saraikela court, and not section 302 (murder). While section 302 attracts a maximum penalty of death, section 304 attracts a maximum punishment of life imprisonment.
Parveen filed a petition in the court of chief judicial magistrate Manju Kumari in Seraikela. The petition has not been listed for hearing. “The mob intentionally killed my husband. He was mercilessly beaten up with rods and lathis, leading to blood clots in different parts of the body. The police and the doctors have not performed their jobs impartially,” she told reporters.
Parveen’s lawyer Altaf Hussain said, “We urged the court to take cognisance of offences under section 302 and not under section 304, as requested by the police. It is a clear case of murder but an attempt was made to dilute the charge against the accused.”
Twenty-four-year-old Ansari was caught by Dhatkidih villagers in the intervening night of June 17 and 18 while allegedly attempting burglary in a house along with two of his associates.
While his alleged aides managed to escape, Ansari got caught and thrashed. He was allegedly forced to chant Jai Shri Ram. Villagers then handed him over to the police which took him to hospital. After primary treatment, he was produced in the court and sent to Seraikela jail the same day. He stayed in the medical ward of the hospital where he fell sick and died on June 22.
Meanwhile on Wednesday, the police defended its decision to drop the murder charge. “We have taken the decision to convert section 302 under the IPC to 304 of the code after consulting the authorities. The decision was taken based on proper probe and post-mortem and forensic reports, which said that Ansari died of cardiac arrest,” superintendent of police Karthik S said. Questioning the hue and cry over the police decision to drop murder charges, the SP said, “Why are people undermining section 304 of the IPC?... On Wednesday, the court asked deputy commissioner to grant mandatory prosecution sanction against the accused as required for taking cognizance under section 295 A.”
Ansari’s uncle, Masrul Aalam, who had testified in the case, said,
“We have filed a separate case in Jharkhand high court demanding a CBI probe into the matter.”
The case has raised temperatures with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad calling the incident a “conspiracy of secularists”.
The post-mortem report pointed out that Ansari died due to cardiac arrest and that a haemorrhage in the head was not fatal. Seraikela-kharsawan civil surgeon and superintendent of Seraikela Sadar Hospital Dr Himanshu Bhusan Barwar had also confirmed that the forensic report of Ansari’s viscera ruled out death by poisoning.