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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RR beat RCB by six wickets in IPL
Guwahati (PTI): Blistering fifties by Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Dhruv Jurel powered Rajasthan Royals to a six-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru in their IPL match here on Friday.
Sent in to bat, RCB rode on a fighting half-century by skipper Rajat Patidar (63) to post 201 for 8.
Virat Kohli (32), Romario Shepherd (22) and Venkatesh Iyer (29) also chipped in with useful contributions.
In reply, Sooryavanshi (78 off 26 balls) and Dhruv Jurel (81 not out off 43 balls) shared a 37-ball 108-run partnership for the second wicket to set the platform. Krunal Pandya (2/30) tried to bring them back with back-to-back wickets.
But Jurel, in the company of Ravindra Jadeja (24), completed the task with another 68-run stand, with two overs to spare.
For RR, Jofra Archer (2/33), Ravi Bishnoi (2/32) and Brijesh Sharma (2/37) took two wickets.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: 201 for 8 in 20 overs (Rajat Patidar 63; Jofra Archer 2/33, Ravi Bishnoi 2/32, Brijesh Sharma 2/37).
Rajasthan Royals: 202 for 4 in 18 overs (Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 78, Dhruv Jurel 80 not out; Krunal Pandya 2/30, Josh Hazlewood 2/44).
