Post Nirbhaya era: Juvenile accused in Ramgarh Lynching may get trialed as an adult!
Ramgarh: The Ramgarh Court, which pronounced a historic judgment in Alimuddin Ansari’s lynching case and awarded life imprisonment to the 11 accused, may take another significant step in connection with the juvenile accused in the case.
On June 29, 2017 a mob had lynched Alimuddin for allegedly transporting beef in a Maruti van in the heart of Ramgarh town in Jharkhand. Later, on the basis of Alimuddin’s widow, Mariam Khatoon’s statement, 12 people including a minor were accused of committing the crime.
On the fateful day, Alimuddin’s calls were intercepted, his van was chased and finally at Bartand, only few kilometers away from the court, where the 11 accused got punished for the crime, they had stopped Alimuddin and lynched him.
The attack was so brutal that Alimuddin died before reaching the hospital. The gruesome murder was not just committed in broad daylight, but was also filmed and shared on social media.
The case had several prominent names of Ramgarh, including BJP leader Nityanand Mahto as those accused of committing the heinous crime. However, the most shocking part was the involvement of a juvenile in the killing.
“A petition has been submitted before the court, pleading for the juvenile to be tried as an adult post the amendment made to the Juvenile Justice Act, after Nirbhaya gang rape case. It says that a juvenile who can understand and think like an adult, should be treated as an adult. Here, the juvenile is above 16 years of age also,” stated SK Shukla, Public Prosecutor, after the verdict was given, yesterday. He then added, “As soon as the petition will be accepted, trial will begin for the juvenile.”
Significantly, it was not only a single lynching case, where a juvenile has been part of a gruesome murder. In 2017, the same year when Alimuddin was lynched, in another gruesome murder that shocked the nation, a juvenile had been used to film the entire act.
In Rajsamand district of Rajasthan, Shambhulala Regar, had brutally hacked and burnt a labour from Bengal. He had his 15-year-old nephew accompany him and record the murder, which was later shared by Shambhulal on social media. While in the heinous Nirbhaya gang rape case, which brought Indians on to the streets, demanding justice, the juvenile had been found guilty of having participated in all acts of the crime—right from raping, torturing and murdering Nirbhaya.
Now, that the 11 adult accused been sentenced for life by the court, it will be significant to see, what step court takes on the juvenile accused?
