Cow vigilantes took my husband away from me. But whatever was left behind for me, the hope and courage to take orphaned life of my small kids ahead was snatched away by none other than those law vigilantes, who bore the responsibilities to have faith in system the most,” said dejected and distracted Saira Bibi, whose husband Mohammad Majloom Ansari was found hanging from a tree in Jharkhand’s Jhabar village under Balumath Police Station of latehar on March 16, 2016.
Besides Bibi, family members of Minhaz Ansari from Jamtara district, who was allegedly beaten to death in police custody on October 8 over a so-called objectionable social media post, were also upset over the way the police officials appeared to family members or any of those who showed interest in the case. Kin of Rupesh Swansi, another minor allegedly beaten to death yet again in police station itself, said while expressing their views in a programme named Insaf Convention organised on Monday by Awami Insaf Manch that they were more harassed by the system than the circumstances itself.“We have gone through tremendous pressure, different in nature and in degree after we started seeking justice for us. It is almost a year now that I lost my husband who was hanged to death by cow vigilante. The accused are on bail, roaming wild and we are suffering for our daily bread and butter after losing lone bread earner,” added Bibi. However, she expressed faith in justice, believing that it would be delivered on time.
Speakers in the event, CPI (M) General Secretary Deepankar Bhattacharya and his party MlA Rajkumar Yadav, MlA Aroop Chattarjee, JNU Students Union Joint Secretary Tabrez Alam, Activist Dayamani Barla and dozens of others didn’t miss the chance to hit the government questioning its policies so far.
Bhattacharya said that Jharkhand was moving toward a mass movement against anti-people policies of State government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “Saffron ideology backed radicalism is on the verge of destroying social harmony of the State, and deprived and minorities are having no way forward to combat it divided,” said Bhattacharya.
Notably, the police had arrested five suspects in connection with alleged murder of cattle trader Majloom Ansari and a minor Imtiyaz Khan in Balumath. Among the five accused, one Mithilesh Prasad Sahu was associated with local cow protection vigilante group. Others identified as Pramod Kumar Sahu, Manoj Kumar Sahu, Awdesh Sahu and Manoj Sahu are all on bail.
