Jharkhand court sets benchmark, convicts 11 gau rakshaks for lynching, wife hails judiciary

Ramgarh/Ranchi: A trial court in Jharkhand gave a significant judgement on Friday, by convicting 11 cow vigilantes for lynching Ramgarh’s Alimuddin Ansari to death on June 29, 2017. The judgement was given by the Additional district and session judge (ADJ) II court, Ramgarh and the final sentence will be declared on March 21. This is the first time when those accused of lynching or inciting violence in the name of protecting cow have been convicted in India.

Of the 12 accused in the lynching case, 11 including a BJP leader have been convicted under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). In addition to this, four of the accused have also been charged with conspiracy under section 120B of IPC. Only, the juvenile, has not been convicted.

Alimuddin was lynched to death by a group of gau rakshaks on the very day, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi had stated that killing of people in the name of cow protection will not be tolerated. The victim allegedly was carrying beef, when a mob stopped his van in Ramgarh and lynched him to death.

Soon the videos of the assault began doing around in the social media, where the accused were seen lynching Alimuddin. On the instruction of Ranchi High Court, a special fast track court was constituted to hear the trail. ADJ II Om Prakash delivered first of its kind judgment in a lynching case.

“Eleven accused have been convicted under section 302 of Indian Penal Code. Adding to this four among them have also been convicted under section 120B. The sentencing will be done on March 21,” informant counsel Raju Hemburm told eNewsroom.

Hailing the verdict, Mariam Khatoon, wife of Alimuddin, told eNewsroom, “We had to fight it out. We faced a lot of difficulties, but we are satisfied with the court’s judgement.”

When asked, if she still had something to tell the judiciary, she said, “Now its upto the court to decide on the punishment, be it a life term or death penalty, let court decide.”

After the brutal killing, Mariam was very angry and even told to media persons that she and others will take weapons in hand if they will not get justice.

Marim also thanked administration for all the support provided to her during the trial. However, a friend of Alimuddin, Jalil Ansari, who was one of the nineteen witnesses in the case and had lost his wife during the trial, told eNewsroom, “I had not got the kind of support that I should have got as a key witness, but I am happy that the killers will get punished.”

Jalil’s wife had died in a road accident in October, while they were returning to collect his identity proof. It was assumed that there was some conspiracy involved to pressurise the witnesses. Advocate SK Shukla, was the public prosecutor, fought brilliantly to get a landmark judgement, which can be a deterrent for gau rakshaks in India.