Eight sentenced to life imprisonment for lynching cattle herders in Jharkhand

A local court in Jharkhand’s Latehar district on Friday awarded life imprisonment and a cash penalty of Rs 25,000 each to eight accused for lynching two Muslim cattle herders and hanging their bodies by a tree. The court of additional district and sessions judge (I) Rishikesh Kumar had convicted them for the crime on Wednesday.

The bodies of Mazlum Ansari (32) and Imteyaz Khan (13), both cattle herders and moving together, were found hanging from a tree on March 17, 2016. The wounds on the bodies indicated that they were badly beaten up before their murder.

The incident, considered to be one of the first incidents of hate crime in the country, had occurred at Jhabar village under Herhanj police station in Latehar district, triggering nationwide protests.

This is the second major judgment on hate crime in Jharkhand. Earlier in March this year, a court in Ramgarh district had sentenced 11 accused in a case involving the lynching of a trader from Muslim community, for allegedly transporting meat in his vehicle. The incident occurred in June 2017.

Those sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment included Mithilesh Prasad Sahu, Pramod Kumar Sahu, Manoj Kumar Sahu, Awadhesh Sahu, Manoj Sahu, Arun Sao, Vishal Tiwary and Shahdev Soni — all residents of Jhabar village under Balumath police station area.

The court also imposed a cash penalty of Rs 25,000 on each of them. If they fail to deposit the money, they would have to undergo an additional imprisonment of one year.

Mazlum Ansari (32) hailed from village Dumar Tand and Imteyaz Khan (13) from Arahara village in Latehar districts. The family members had claimed that they were herding cattle for sale at a nearby village fair when they were lynched by a mob claiming to be cow vigilantes.

The district police had made elaborate security arrangements in and around the Latehar civil court premises to prevent any assembly of the supporters of the rightwing activists as the accused persons owed allegiance to the cow protection vigilante groups.

First Published: Dec 21, 2018 23:59 IST