Victim Shamshad Ansari’s wife wants justice and asks for the death penalty for the killers
Team Clarion
RANCHI — Accusing a 45-year-old Muslim cattle trader of conning money, a mob in Jharkhand’s Ramgarh district beat him to death on Tuesday.
Victim Shamshad Ansari’s wife said that her husband was lynched in Sikni village after the mob established his religious identity.
“He was killed considering or making sure that he was a Muslim. We want justice. Those who killed him should be given the death penalty,” she said.
Ansari hails from Jamira village in Ramgarh district.
“My husband left home with Rs 50,000 in cash for giving as advance to the furniture makers. The furniture was meant for her niece who was set to get married after two months.
“He said he would ask for his money given as a loan to someone in the village. In the evening I was told by the local administration that my husband was no more. He died in Sadar Hospital. I appeal to you to please give me justice and give the death penalty to the killers. I have no bread-winner,” she said in a video posed by a journalist, Sohan Singh, on X platform (formerly Twitter).
With regard to the incident, a Dainik Bhaskar report claimed that Ansari had taken money from Hardhan Mahto to protect his son, Rajkumar Mahto. Rajkumar claimed that Ansari had conned his father for money in the name of protecting him. He, along with a group of villagers, started looking for Ansari.
When the villagers found Ansari near the railway track on a bike, they forcibly got him down and started beating him with sticks. He was stripped. The mob consisted of 20-30 people.
On getting information, the police reached the spot and took Ansari to a hospital where he was declared brought dead.
Mohammed Shakir, state president of All India Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), slammed the Hemant Soren government and criticised its statement in which the Jharkhand chief minister said that no incident of lynching has happened in the state after 2019.
“This incident shows the inaction and lethargic approach of the police administration and the government,” he said. “There is a secular government in Jharkhand but not a single month passes by when Muslims are not being lynched”.