Residents of Dhatkidih village express disappointment after murder charges restored on accused in Tabrez Ansari lynching case

Residents of Dhatkidih village on Thursday expressed disappointment after murder charges were restored against the accused in the Tabrez Ansari lynching incident.

Speaking to media, a villager, Mamata said that restoring Section 302 of the IPC (murder) is not good for her village. She alleged that Ansari came to do robbery in the village and got injured in the act.

"Why did the villagers gather late at night? The villagers did no know Ansari before. He came to do robbery and was caught," she alleged.

Mamata further said that other associates of Tabrez were not caught, the administration should get hold of them then the reality will be out.

"The family of the accused is saying that they will commit suicide if justice is not given to them," she added.

Another villager Sunil asked why police did not admit Tabrez to hospital. The villagers are unnecessarily harassed.

"Tabrez did not die of beating with sticks, he got injured when he was robbing and that is why he died. If Tabrez would have died in the village then section 302 was valid, but he died due to lack of medical care," he said.

Another villager Maya Mahali said that if section 302 is not removed then the entire village will commit suicide in front of DC and SP office.Lawyer of the accused Subhash Hajra said that section 302 does not imply in this case. It is a police atrocity that section 302 is reimposed, he said.

"When there is no murder then how can they apply section 302. When police arrested Ansari then why did it did not see his injuries?", he added.

Police have restored murder charge under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against all the 13 accused in Tabrez Ansari lynching case.

Last week, the police had dropped Section 302 of the IPC against in its charge sheet against 11 accused in the lynching case, saying that the murder case could not be made based on the findings of the post-mortem examination report.