Jharkhand High Court on Monday granted bail to eight people convicted who belong to the Hindu extremist group for mob lynching and hanging of Muslim cattle traders in Latehar.
The Court also suspended the District Court’s earlier verdict of life imprisonment meted out to the accused in 2018.
Imtiaz Khan, a 12-year-old schoolboy, and Majloom Ansari, a 32-year-old cattle trader, were abducted, beaten and hanged from a tree in Latehar in the Indian state of Jharkhand in March 2016. They were beaten and hanged from a tree with the same nylon ropes they used for their cattle.
Responding to the HC ruling, Association for Protection of Civil Rights secretary Nadeem Khan informed Maktoob that victim’s family has decided to move to Supreme Court to challenge the bail order.
APCR has been providing legal assistance to the victims’ families.
At least three people — Imtiaz’s father Azad Khan, Mazloom’s younger brother Munauwar Ansari, and Mohammad Nizamuddin were witnesses to the hate crime.
The High Court’s decision comes 4 months after the Jharkhand assembly introduced the anti-lynching bill.
