Now a Dadri occurs in Jharkhand – Muslim youth tortured in police custody over beef photo, died at hospital

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IndiaTomorrow.net,
Ranchi, Oct 12: This Muslim youth had not slaughtered cow, nor did he consume or store beef. His ‘crime’ was that he allegedly shared image of a slaughtered cow with a comment on Whatsapp. He was picked and brutally tortured by the police in Jamtara district of Jharkhand, alleges family of 22-year-old Minhaj Ansari.

The controversial Whatsapp image made rounds on 2nd Oct in Dighari village. Ansari was picked on 3rd October and lodged at the Narayanpura police station where he was allegedly tortured. When his condition deteriorated he was sent to Dhanbad Medical College & Hospital and from there he was shifted to the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Ranchi on 7th Oct. Ansari, who would run a mobile repair shop in Kolkata, died at RIMS on 9th Oct.

As per the FIR lodged at the Narayanpur police station by Ansari’s mother on 6th Oct, he was brutally beaten by the officer in-charge of the police station and a resident of the neighbouring village inside the police station on 3rd Oct. the youth sustained internal injuries and slipped into coma. When her mother requested the officer not to beat him, she was also beaten and pushed out of the station.

“When police came to my home, my son pleaded innocence but he was dragged to police van and taken to police station. When I came to the police station I saw the police station in-charge and a villager mercilessly beating my son. When I requested the officer not to beat my son, he pounced on me and beat me up, twisted my arms, all my bangles were broken and my cloth were torn, he pushed me out of the station. I helplessly stood outside the station and saw my son being beaten before my eye,” said Ajhola Bibi, mother of Minhaj Ansari, in the FIR.

Umar Miyan, father of Minhaj Ansari (extreme left in front row). Minhaj’s mother Ajhaula Bibi (2nd from left in 2nd row and his wife with son in lap.

“They savagely beat my son. When he fainted, they poured water on him to make him conscious. When he didn’t the officer took my son in his vehicle to Narayanpur govt hospital. The doctor at govt hospital checked my son and told the officer that his condition is very serious and he should be immediately taken to a big hospital,” she further said.

“Then the officer and the villager took my son to Dhanbad Medical College, where he is unconscious since 3rd Oct. When I enquired with the doctor, he told me that my son was so brutally beaten that he got internal injuries and he is in coma and his condition is very serious and nothing could be said about his survival,” wrote Bibi in the FIR.

Irfan Ansari (in white shirt and blue jeans with handkercheif on head) talking to angry villagers in Jamtara on 5th Oct.

Acting on the FIR, officer-in-charge of Narayanpur police station, Harish Pathak was first suspended and a case of attempt to murder and outraging the modesty of a woman was registered against him. The officer was suspended immediately. After Ansari’s death on 9th Oct, the attempt to murder charge has reportedly been changed to a murder charge, says a report in The Indian Express.

However, justifying Ansari’s detention, Jamtara SP Manoj Kumar Singh reportedly said: “We took action because the WhatsApp message, with some comments about beef, had the potential to disturb communal peace, coming so close to Dussehra and Muharram. The situation is peaceful now, we are keeping a strict watch.”

Since his arrest and news about his custodial torture, villagers were angry. On 5th Oct, local MLA Irfan Ansari of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha visited the village and tried to pacify the angry people.

After his death, the district administration has ordered a joint inquiry by the Sub Divisional Officer and Sub Divisional Police Officer. The state government of BJP has given a compensation of Rs 2 lakh to the victim’s family.

According to human rights activist Ziaullah, who visited the victim family in Jamtara today, the family was not accepting the compensation amount but the local MLA Irfan Ansari convinced them to accept it.

Talking to IndiaTomorrow.net, Ziaullah, who is attached with Association For Protection of Civil Rights, said that victim’s mother and father told him that they found fingers of his hands and toes were broken and there were injury marks on his body.

The funeral prayer for Minhaj Ansari was conducted at his village on Monday and was buried at the local graveyard.

Minhaj, son of Umar Miyan, would run a mobile repair shop in Kolkata. He had come to home on vacation. He is survived by young wife and a one-year-old son.

In Sep 2015, 50-year-old Mohammad Akhlaq was lynched by a mob in Dadri area of Uttar Pradesh over rumours that he ate and consumed beef.


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