Dropping murder charge against Tabrez Ansari lynching accused unfortunate: Union minister Reddy
New Delhi, Sep 12: Amid a furore over Jharkhand Police dropping the murder charge against the accused in the Tabrez Ansari lynching case, Union minister G Kishan Reddy on Thursday said the law will takes it own course.
He termed the incident "unfortunate" and said it was a criminal act.
"I don't know what had happened in the court. I want that whatever had happened, whatever criminal act had happened, guilty should be punished," he told reporters on the sidelines of an event here.
Reddy said he would talk to the state government on the matter.
Asked about the police scaling down the charges against the 13 accused from murder to capable homicide, he said "law will take its own course".
The Union minister of state for home dismissed the suggestion that alleged incidents of lynching have been taking place only in BJP ruled states.
"There were similar incidents in West Bengal too. So many such cases have happened in the past, not all (have been) in the BJP ruled states," he said.
Reddy said even Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that such incidents should not take place anywhere.
The 13 accused were arrested in connection with the death of 24-year-old Ansari, who was thrashed by a mob for alleged theft on June 17 in Jharkhand's Saraikela-Kharsawan district.
Videos had gone viral showing Ansari being beaten up while tied to a pole and being forced to chant 'Jai Shri Ram'.
On Tuesday, police have dropped murder charges against all the 13 accused in the lynching case of Ansari.
The chargesheet against two of the 13 arrested was filed in a local court and the investigation against the rest of the accused will soon be completed, a police official said.
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Charred body of teen found after fire destroys over 100 shanties in Delhi's Rithala
New Delhi (PTI): A massive fire swept through a cluster of shanties in Delhi's Rithala area early on Thursday, killing a 17-year-old girl and destroying more than 100 huts that left dozens of migrant families homeless.
Firefighters pulled out the charred body of the girl who was initially reported missing after the fire.
The blaze that was reported to authorities at 4.15 am spread rapidly through the densely packed shanties, triggering panic among residents who rushed out of their huts to escape the flames.
Residents said the shanty cluster was home to migrant labourers from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal and other states who worked as daily wage workers in nearby factories, construction sites and small establishments.
The Delhi Fire Services (DFS) launched a large-scale firefighting operation and deployed more than 18 fire tenders to control the blaze.
After the fire was brought under control, firefighters recovered the charred body of a teenage girl from the debris.
"Teams reached the location soon after the call was received and began firefighting operations. The fire had already engulfed several shanties in the cluster," a fire official said.
Officials said the blaze spread quickly because the huts were built very close to each other and many contained highly inflammable materials such as plastic sheets, wooden planks and cloth.
Firefighters and local police personnel carried out rescue and cooling operations and managed to bring the fire under control by around 6.30 am.
"The fire had spread to more than 100 huts and a adjacent godown of paper rolls and cardboard and the doors and windows of some residential flats also caught fire. A 17-year-old girl charred body was also recovered. Her body was sent to BSA Hospital by PCR," the officer said.
Police said the girl has been identified and further legal procedures are underway.
Many families said they lost everything in the fire as they had to flee with no belongings during the fire.
"We ran out to save our lives when the fire started. Within minutes everything was burning. Our hut, clothes, money and documents -- everything has turned to ashes," said Ramesh Kumar, a labourer from Bihar who has been living in the area.
Another person from West Bengal, said the flames spread so quickly that people barely had time to wake their children and escape.
"We woke up to screams and saw fire everywhere. We somehow managed to take the children outside. We could not save anything from the hut. All our belongings are gone," she said.
Some residents were seen searching through the burnt remains of their huts in the hope of finding salvageable items. "We worked for years to build this small hut and collect household items. In just a few minutes, everything we had earned was destroyed," said a migrant worker from Uttar Pradesh.
Police said the exact cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained and an investigation is underway.
