Alimuddin Lynching Case: Bail Granted to the Accused

On Friday, the Jharkhand High Court granted bail to eight of the eleven convicted Gau Rakshaks (cow vigilantes) serving life imprisonment in the Hazaribag central jail for lynching a 45-year-old Muslim trader, Alimuddin Ansari. His wife has now decided to challenge the High Court verdict in the Supreme Court.

Also Read: Jharkhand Lynching: Lawyer Explains How Alimuddin Ansari Got Justice

On 29 June, precisely a year after the horrific lynching of Alimuddin, Jharkhand High Court suspended the life sentence given to eight convicts including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, Nityanand Mahto.

A division bench of Justices, H. C. Mishra and B. B. Mangalmurti granted bail to Nityanand Mahto, Vicky Saw, Sikandar Ram, Santosh Singh, Uttam Ram, Raju Kumar, Kapil Thakur and Rohit Thakur on Friday. All the accused were convicted for their offence under Sections 147, 148, 427 / 149, 435 / 149, and 302 / 149 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Speaking to NewsClick, Alimuddin Ansaris’ widow, Mariam Khatoon said, "We respect the High Court’s order, but will go to the Supreme Court so that our demands are met. We got justice earlier and hope to get justice in the future as well."

She further added that among the three of her lawyers, only advocate Allam was present at the time of the court verdict, while Raju Hembram and Shadab were out of town. She is afraid there might be something fishy about this.

Also Read: Crowd Support Alimuddin’s Killers, Chant ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ Outside Court

Newsclick also spoke to the informant lawyer Shadab Ansari, who was assisting the prosecution in the case.

"Unfortunately, the Jharkhand High Court only highlighted the video part where these accused were part of the mob but were not seen lynching Alimuddin. The eyewitnesses had already confirmed that they were also part of the mob lynching, but the High Court did not pay attention to it" Shadab said.

He further added that the accused persons could be clearly identified in the photographs and videos, but the High Court has given its verdict focusing only on the video part. There are several video clips, it could be possible that they could not be seen in some videos, but they were certainly part of the mob lynching.

"BJP MP Nityanand Mahto, with the help of his party, influenced the judiciary and even the witnesses have turned hostile. In the Alimuddin lynching case, the judiciary system was under constant pressure to release all the accused since they are associated with the ruling government. When the Ramgarh district court had given the order, every evidence was available, including videos and photographs where all the accused could be seen on the spot. It is a sad state of affairs to see such a decision," Sharique Ansal, a social activist based in Jharkhand told NewsClick.

Also Read: Ramgarh Lynching: No Death Penalty for My Husband’s Murderers, Says Wife