India Tomorrow
Mumbai, July 2— Since the lynching of 22-year-old Tabrez Ansari in Jharkhand on June 22, different parts of the country have witnessed protest demonstration against mob lynching. But the protest demonstration held in Malegaon of Maharashtra on Monday was the largest one as over one lakh people from all sects and affiliations came out on the streets of the town of power looms.
“Malegaon protests against #lynchingTerror on Monday. Muslims from all sects and most of the parties came together to unite against the mob lynching. Over a lakh joined the protest,” tweeted journalist Mateen Hafeez with some photos of the massive protest.
Tabrez Ansari @Sonu, who died on June 22, was brutally assaulted by a mob on June 18 on suspicion of theft in Jharkhand’s Saraikela-Kharswan district. The police reached the spot next morning and took him to the local police station. After first aid he was presented in the court and sent to jail on a theft complaint. The policed did not lodge any case against the mob. As his condition deteriorated in jail on June 22, he was taken to hospital where he died the same day. After his death and huge media and opposition uproar, police lodged case against the goons and 11 of them were arrested. Two cops were also suspended.
In the last three years, around 18 people, mostly from the minority community, were lynched by mob in Jharkhand state.
In the last five years, around 70 people have been killed in lynching different parts of the country, mostly in Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Assam.
A massive protest in Malegaon against mob lynching on July 1, 2019
The lynching of Tabrez had led to national outrage. Huge demonstrations were held in Delhi, Mumbai and over 50 other cities in the country on June 26.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi also attacked BJP and its leadership over the incidents of mob lynching – the latest one took place in BJP-ruled Jharkhand where a 22-year-old Muslim youth Tabrez Ansari was lynched over theft suspicion.
“The brutal lynching of this young man by a mob in Jharkhand is a blot on humanity. The cruelty of the police who held this dying boy in custody for 4 days is shocking as is the silence of powerful voices in the BJP-ruled Central & State Govts,” tweeted Rahul with #IndiaAgainstLynchTerror hashtag on June 25.
Day later, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also condemned the brutal lynching of Tabrez, but he asked the Opposition parties not to defame the entire state for such sporadic incidents.
“The lynching in Jharkhand has pained me. It has saddened others too. But, some people in the Rajya Sabha are calling Jharkhand a hub of lynching. Is this fair? Why are they insulting a state? None of us have the right to insult the state of Jharkhand,” said the PM while referring to Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad’s Monday remarks whereby he had attacked the BJP for incidents of lynching in Jharkhand and termed the state as a hub of lynching.
