Express concern over how the Jharkhand police have handled the case

A section of faculty, staff and students of the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore (IIMB) has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing concern over how the Jharkhand police have handled the lynching of Tabrez Ansari. They have demanded that he direct the State government to institute a fresh probe.

The email addressed to the Prime Minister expressed shock and dismay over how the Jharkhand police had handled the lynching. “We urge you to act swiftly and decisively by directing the State government to institute a fresh probe. It is the constitutional duty of the State to protect the life and liberty of all citizens,” the letter to the Prime Minister stated.

On September 12, a professor circulated an email to IIM-B students, staff and faculty and said that as “an academic community, it is important that we stand up to the impunity with which the State has abrogated its Constitutional duty.”

Twenty-four-year-old Tabrez Ansari, who was working as a welder in Pune, had returned to his village Kadamdia, 15 km from the district headquarters town of Seraikela, to get married on April 27. On June 17 night, some people of Dhatkidih village, a few kilometres from his house, caught him and branded him a thief. He was beaten up by a mob and forced to chant ‘Jai Hanuman’ and ‘Jai Sriram’.

On June 22, he succumbed to injuries while in judicial custody. It was alleged that Tabrez was not given proper and timely medical attention.

The Seraikela police had dropped murder charges against the accused contending that Tabrez had died of a cardiac arrest due to stress.

Ansari’s wife Shahista Parvez has also sought a fresh probe, threatening a fast-unto-death.