RANCHI: Mariam Khatoon, the widow of Alimuddin Ansari who was lynched in Ramgarh in June last year for allegedly carrying beef, appealed the administration not to hang her husband's killers but ensure that they are made to serve life term in jail. Mariam, who has been leading a life in abject poverty since the bread earner of the family was killed, told members of Karwan-e-Mohabbat that she doesn't want to see the wives of her husband's assailants turn widow and their children orphans. "I think death is not the solution. The killers should stay behind bars for the rest of their lives and repent for their sin," she told the team members led by noted social activist Harsh Mander.
Karwan-e-Mohabbat travelled through
Jharkhand from September 9 to 12. It included writers, lawyers, scientists and human right activists among others under leadership of former IAS officer Harsh Mander. While in Jharkhand the team met family members of Minhaj Ansari in Jamtara, Usman Ansari in
Giridih, Ramesh Minj in Garhwa, Majloom Ansari in Latehar and Alimuddin Ansari in Ramgarh. Most of these people became victims of mob rage and were lynched over frivolous issues.
Accompanied by M A Ibrahim, another retired IAS of Bihar, Mander said that all the families they met are facing economic distress and living with fear. "None of them have got justice and since the government has not even paid compensation to the families, the lives of these families have derailed," he said.
Mander has written to chief secretary Sudhir Kumar Tripathy, drawing his attention to some of the directives of the Supreme Court which the state is supposed to follow in case of mob lynching. "The court has hold the CS of states responsible for such incidents so that the administration can be directed to remain alert and responsive about averting such incidents. Yet we found bureaucratic lapses in almost every state," he said.
