Harsh Mander’s team visits families of lynching victims
JAMSHEDPUR: A national level team of Karwan-e-Mohabbat against mob lynching led by Harsh Mander, noted columnist and director of Centre for Equity Studies, Delhi, said that a lot was still needed to be done for the state government administration and police to put an end to the menace of mob lynching and delivering justice to the surviving family members of the victims.
The observation came after the team visited the families of mob lynching victims in Nagadih village in Jamshedpur on Thursday. On May 18, 2017, brothers Vikas Verma, Gautam Verma and their friend Gangesh Gupta were beaten to death in Nagadih by angry mob and also left their grandmother Ramsakhi Devi seriously injured over rumour of child lifting. She later succumbed to her fatal injuries at Tata Main Hospital (TMH) on June 20, 2017.
“This is our third visit to Jharkhand and we have so far visited the families of 30 mob lynching victims in 14 states during out campaign against lynching and spread of hatred. We also visited the family of Tabrez Ansari in Kadamdiha village and Shobhapu village where four Muslim youths were lynched to death on May 18, 2017.
Jharkhand and judiciary, however, must be appreciated for convicting the perpetrators of
ON MAY 18, 2017, BROTHERS VIKAS VERMA, GAUTAM VERMA AND THEIR FRIEND GANGESH GUPTA WERE BEATEN TO DEATH IN NAGADIH BY ANGRY MOB
lynching in Latehar and Ramgarh, only two cases where conviction has been done,” said Mander, running an NGO Aman Biradari.
Mander said their visits and interactions with the families of victims led them to the conclusion that role of local police was controversial, lackadaisical and insensitive to say the least.
“I have been district collector in six districts earlier and I know the administrative limitations but still a prompt response to the situation might have saved precious lives. Police also appeared slow in prosecuting the cases,” added Mander.
He conceded rumours of child lifting and cow smuggling did play their role in inciting such crimes but blamed certain organisations for misusing the social media platforms to spread hatred.
Uttam Verma, lone surviving brother of Gautam and Vikas, said they narrated their ordeal to the team and requested them to help them constitute a CBI probe into the lynching his brothers, friends and grandmother.