Above: Cow vigilantes beating people allegedly involved in cow slaughter
Eight people were sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in Ranchi for lynching two Muslim cattle traders in Latehar district of Jharkhand.
Additional District Judge (ADJ) Rishikesh Kumar awarded life imprisonment to all the accused and also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 with the direction that if they fail to pay the sum they would have to undergo additional year in jail, PTI reported.
The accused — Sahdeo Soni, Vishal Tiwari, Mithlesh Prasad Sahu, Arun Sah, Manoj Sah, Awadhesh Sahu, Manoj Sao, and Pramod Sao — were held guilty on Wednesday under Section 302 (murder) and 34 (criminal act done with common intention) of Indian Penal Code (IPC). The convict had murdered Imtiyaz Khan and Mazrum Ansari.
Family members of the victims are not satisfied with a quantum of the sentence. “We seek the death penalty for the killers and compensation for the family members to eke out a living,” said Sayra Bibi, wife of Mazrum Ansari.
On March 2016, Imtiyaz and Mazrum were severely beaten and later hanged from a tree by a mob of so-called Gau Rakshaks in Latehar district’s Khaprelwar village. The attacker used a nylon cord, used to hold cattle, to tie hands of Khan and Ansari and hanged them from the tree. Later their bodies were found hanging by locals with gamchas (small cloth towel) in their mouth.
—India Legal Bureau