Today is a day of victory for all those of us who stood by Tabrez Ansari, condemned his murder and prayed for justice. Eight days after the murder charge against 11 accused in the mob lynching of the 24-year-old was dropped by Jharkhand police, the same charge was brought back on Wednesday, September 18, after a fresh medical report was obtained.  

A supplementary chargesheet was filed by the police before a court in Seraikela-Kharsawan district, retaining Section 302 of the IPC (murder) against the 11 accused of lynching. 

A chargesheet was also filed against the remaining two accused. After completing an investigation against them, the two were charged with murder. 

On June 17, 2019, Ansari was attacked by a mob in the Seraikela Kharswan district of Jharkhand on the suspicion of theft. The mob tied him to a pole and assaulted him with sticks and iron rods for hours at night, and forced him to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Jai Hanuman’. The incident was recorded in a video that went viral.

Charges Against Accused Restored

On September 10, police dropped murder charges against all the 13 accused, converting it into culpable homicide not amounting to murder (Section 304 of the IPC). This was done on the basis of postmortem, medical and forensic reports which said that the cause of Ansari’s death was cardiac arrest.

Stating that this medical report was not clear, the second opinion of specialist doctors from the MGM Medical College and Hospital in Jamshedpur was taken by police. 

“On the basis of main findings, we opined that (1) The fracture of bone is grievous injury caused by hard & blunt object. (2). The combined effect of fracture of bone, pale organs and heart chambers full of blood resulting into cardiac arrest,” the report by the fresh board of doctors said.

Besides, no distortion was found by police in the viral video showing Ansari being beaten up by the accused. 

Despite glaring evidence and visual proof, the police decided to drop murder charges under section 302 of the IPC.

While the penalty under Section 304 is imprisonment for life or imprisonment for 10 years or fine or both, the quantum of punishment under Section 302 is death or imprisonment for life and fine.

The Earlier Medical Reports

Much before the medical reports appeared insubstantial and flimsy to the second group of doctors, The Logical Indian pointed out glaring inconsistencies in the post mortem report. 

Doctors that we spoke to made it clear that the cause of death and mode of dying of a person are very different. The cause of death can never be cardiac arrest, and it is the mode of dying for everyone. What causes cardiac arrest is the cause of death.

In the case of Ansari, clearly, injuries and trauma from the beating resulted in his cardiac arrest.

“Cardiac death clearly means that it is ‘death’; we all die of cardiac death when our heart stops. It can, by no means, be referred to as the cause of death. What caused the heart to stop? That is the question. Putting it very simply, Tabrez Ansari was beaten to death,” Dr. J. Amalorpavanathan, Retd Prof. and Head of Department of Vascular Surgery, Madras Medical College had told The Logical Indian. 

Echoing his views, Sanjib Mukhopadhyay, ex-president of The Bengal Obstetrics and Gynecological Society had said, “What all of us need to understand is that the ‘mode’ of death and ‘cause’ of dying are two very different things. This is what every doctor studies as a part of their MBBS curriculum. It is basic knowledge. The mode of dying for anybody is cardiac arrest, that is, everybody dies because their heart fails to beat.”

Explaining this with an example, Mukhopadhyay had said that if someone dies of starvation, the cause of death is starvation and the mode of dying is obviously cardiac arrest due to starvation.

While national media did not extensively cover how grave the injustice was when the accused were let go, we kept a close eye on the case and followed the developments. From the case to the accused being arrested to their charges being dropped, to pointing out and condemning the faulty post mortem report, The Logical Indian did not relent in pursuit of justice.

In fact, we also found that the five undersigned signatories in the post mortem report are the Heads of departments of Orthopaedics, Medicine, Surgery, ENT and Pathology. None of them experts in Forensics.

It did not take us very long to realise how faulty the entire case was, we are glad doctors and police have finally realised it too. 

We got immense support from those of you who followed the case’s development along with us, through articles and Facebook lives. 

We are glad that the power of ‘you’ the people played a part in restoring the course of justice. We at The Logical Indian thank you for your support and hope that Tabrez Ansari’s killers meet the fate they deserve. It’s about time that lynching people in the name of god come to an absolute end. 

Also Read: Opinion: No One Killed Tabrez Ansari