United Against Hate (UAH) held a massive protest at Jharkhand Bhawan, Delhi against the attempts of the Jharkhand Police to shield the killers of Tabrez Ansari. Protesters urged the government to uphold the rule of law and constitutional values.
Social activists, students of various universities, teachers, women, children, and common citizens took part in this protest. Speakers at the protest said that we have all seen the gory video in which Tabrez Ansari is being beaten to death. He was being mercilessly beaten and it is not difficult to identify the killers.
It is astonishing that Jharkhand Police took more than 8 hours to reach the scene of the crime, and after reaching there arrested Tabrez instead of those were assaulting him. Rather than sending him to the hospital, Tabrez was sent to jail.
Tabrez succumbed to his injuries 4 days later. The entire country was shaken at the gruesome murder of Tabrez Ansari and there were protests even outside the country. It is only because of this huge public outcry that the Jharkhand police arrested Pappu Mandal and 10 others for the killing of Tabrez.
Two and half months later, we are shocked to know that the police has dropped the murder charges. The police are clearly trying to shield the killers.
The charge sheet filed by the police is trying to portray Tabrez’s death as a natural one that occurred due to cardiac arrest, while we are well aware that his death was a result of the beating that he had to endure as well as the negligence of duty by the police that followed. We will not accept this brazen attempt to protect lynchers and assaulters, who on that night did not lynch Tabrez alone, but lynched the Constitution of the country once again.
At the end of the protest, a memorandum was given to the Chief Minister of Jharkhand via the resident officer, Jharkhand Bhawan. In the memorandum, we have demanded:
1) Book the murderers of Tabrez Ansari under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code.
2) Book the police officers who neglected their duty which led to the death of Tabrez Ansari.
3) Implement the Supreme Court guideline that was issued by the Apex Court in the case of State vs Tehsin Poonawala to prevent mob lynching. The rate of cases of lynchings in your state is absolutely alarming and the SC guideline which was issued in 2018 has been grossly ignored.
On this issue, the Chief Minister was urged to intervene and ensure justice for Tabrez Ansari, and also make sure that brutal incidents such as these are prevented from taking place in the future.