Justice Delayed But Not Denied: 10 Jharkhand Men Sentenced to 10 Years for Lynching Muslim Man

The eastern Indian state of Jharkhand has seen justice served for the heinous crime of lynching committed against 24-year-old Tabrez Ansari in 2019. Last week, a court in Seraikela Kharsawan convicted 10 men of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and sentenced them to a decade in prison.

The incident, which was recorded in a 10-minute video, sparked public outrage. It showed Ansari being tied to a pole and tortured for nearly 12 hours, while he pleaded with the crowd to spare his life and was forced to chant religious slogans.

He was then taken into custody and moved to a local hospital, where he died of his injuries four days later. The police arrested 12 men in connection with the lynching, two of which were later acquitted due to lack of evidence.

The remaining 10 were handed down the sentence of 10 years in prison, but Ansari’s wife, Shaista Parween, expressed dissatisfaction with the ruling. She said she will appeal against it in higher courts.

Her lawyer, Altaf Ansari, said he was also not happy with the sentence and will go to the Jharkhand High Court “as soon as possible” to seek stricter punishment for the convicts. He noted that if this type of judgement is left to stand, it would be difficult to stop cases of mob lynching.

The incident is only one of many hate crimes that have been occurring in India since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014.

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom has recommended for four years in a row that India’s government be added to a religious freedom blacklist, citing worsening conditions for religious minorities.

Rights activist and local advocate Shadab Ansari said the lynching case of Tabrez Ansari had been “diluted or weakened” by the investigators, which “benefitted” the defendants.

He noted that if life imprisonment or a death sentence had been handed down, it would have created fear among those who commit such crimes. The 10-year prison sentence for the 10 men responsible for Ansari’s death shows that justice can still be served even in cases of mob lynching.

However, it is also clear that more needs to be done to protect minorities and ensure that perpetrators of hate crimes are met with suitable punishment. Only then can the scourge of mob lynching in India be addressed and put to an end.