A fast track court in Jharkhand has convicted 11 people for lynching a meat trader in June 2017 over the suspicion that he was carrying beef-meat in his car.
Judge Om Prakash on Friday found the 11 people guilty under various sections of the IPC, including 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting with deadly weapons) and 149 (unlawful assembly).
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The quantum of punishment would be pronounced on 21 March.
On June 29, Alimuddin alias Asgar Ansari was beaten to death near Bajartand village for allegedly carrying beef meat in a Maruti van.
A group of people stopped him and attacked him. They also set his van on fire.
Police personnel rescued him and took him to a hospital where he died during the course of treatment.
Phone call records had revealed that one of the accused followed Ansari for about two hours on 29 June, informed two others about the victim’s location, before intercepting him at Bazaar Tand.
Later, forensic tests confirmed that the meat he was carrying was beef.
The sale of beef is banned in Jharkhand.
Juvenile Justice Board
Additional Public Prosecutor S K Sukla said there were 12 accused and one of them is a minor and have moved the Juvenile Justice Board seeking that the minor be treated as an adult in the case, Sukla said.
The chargesheet against the accused was filed in the case on 17 September.
(With agency inputs)
