Two days after the alleged lynching of social worker Zafar Hussain in Pratpagarh, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje broke her silence on Sunday and described his “demise” as unfortunate.
She said justice would prevail in the case as the investigation was in progress.
Controversy over tweet
The statement on her official Twitter account drew criticism, as she also re-tweeted a post from an unverified account of the Inspector-General of Police, Udaipur, which said the scientific evidence “did not suggest murder.”
A group of civic officials allegedly beat Hussain, 52, to death on Friday when he tried to prevent them from scaring and taking photographs of women defecating in the open. Hussain, a CPI(ML) member, was at the forefront of an agitation for getting toilets in the households in the Bagwasa slum of Pratapgarh.
The police have booked Municipal Council employees, including Commissioner Ashok Jain, under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code. The tentative post-mortem report released on Sunday said Hussain died of cardio-respiratory failure. “There were no serious external injuries. We have handed over his viscera to the police for forensic examination,” O.P. Dayma of Pratapgarh Government Hospital told The Hindu.
Dr. Dayma said the reasons for the cardio-respiratory failure could be ascertained only after tests of internal organs.
Pradesh Congress Committee chief Sachin Pilot took a swipe at Ms. Raje’s tweet. “Killed would have been a far too appropriate word to use, and going by the previous lynching incidents, justice is unlikely to prevail.”