In yet another tragic incident, a 30-year-old Muslim man was brutally beaten to death by a mob on suspicion of goat theft in Jharkhand’s Ranchi on Saturday, July 6.
According to the police statement, the victim identified as Akhatar Ansari was caught by locals in the Tatisilve police station area on Saturday night who accused him of stealing a goat from a nearby house. The mob then brutally assaulted Ansari with sticks, leaving him critically injured. He was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.
Speaking to the media, Ansari’s nephew Irshad said that at the late hours, someone called and informed him that his uncle was being beaten up badly. After getting information about the case, he contacted Namkum police who directed him to contact Tatisilve police station. The family kept searching for Ansari the whole night, but they found no clue of his whereabouts.
Subsequently, Ansari’s body was recovered the following day.
The body of Ansari was handed over to the family after the postmortem and was buried at Katmkuli cemetery on Sunday evening.
On the other side, the police denied any communal angle, however, they have registered a case of murder and initiated an investigation into the incident.
The incident is the latest in a series of mob lynching cases from the state that have rocked the country.
In June 2019, Tabrez Ansari was beaten to death by a mob in Jharkhand on suspicion of theft. In July 2019 Akbar Khan was lynched by a mob in Rajasthan on suspicion of cow smuggling.
Recent mob lynching incidents over theft allegations
The rise in mob lynching incidents in recent months has sparked outrage across the country. Critics and opposition parties have accused the government of failing to curb the menace and protect the lives of citizens.
So far, there have been 12 reported incidents of lynchings from various parts of the country, which include four non-Muslims, since the Narendra Modi-led NDA government began its third straight term.
On June 28, a 47-year-old man was beaten to death by students on suspicion of theft in Bowbazaar of Central Kolkata. The victim identified as Irshad Alam worked in a television repair shop.
According to the police, Alam was lynched at the Udayan Government Hostel for allegedly stealing a mobile phone. He was reportedly dragged from the streets to the hostel’s first floor and beaten up.
On June 19, a 35-year-old Muslim man was lynched to death by a Hindutva mob after he accused a thief in Aligarh’s Mama Bhanja locality late at night.
On July 5, a Muslim man named Firoz Qureshi was brutally beaten to death over allegations of theft in Uttar Pradesh’s Shamli District
The incident occurred when Firoz had gone to the Jalalabad area of Ganga Aryanagar for work and was accused of being a thief by the mob, allegedly led by Pinky and Pankaj Rajendra.
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