Lynching of Zafar Khan: Three days on, No Arrests, No compensation. Another example of justice in shining India

Jaipur / New Delhi, June 18: Social activist Zafar Khan, 55, was beaten to death allegedly by staffers of municipality in Pratapgarh town Friday morning when he objected to them clicking pictures of women defecating in the open. Despite police lodging named FIR against the assaulters with murder charges soon after the incident, no arrests have been made till this report is being posted now, nor has the victim family got any compensation from the district authorities or government.

In the FIR lodged by in Khan's elder brother Noor Mohammed, civic employees called Kamal Harijan, Ritesh Harijan, Manish Harijan and municipal commissioner Ashok Jain were made accused. Four of them were detained as a huge crowd of the locals thronged to the civil hospital Friday noon where Khan's body was kept and the police persuaded the family and locals to allow post-mortem and funeral and assured them that the accused would be formally arrested, says Nadeem Ansari, president of Pratapgarh Congress Minority Cell. But soon after the post-mortem and funeral, all the four were let off, he alleged.


"They were detained just to pacify the anger of the locals. Four out of five people named in the FIR were kept there. The police persuaded us to allow post-mortem and they will arrest the four who were detained. We believed their promise even though District Magistrate or Superintendent of Police had not arrived there. But soon after post-mortem and funeral, the police changed their attitude," Ansari told IndiaTomorrow.net over phone. "While the state Home Minister said that three-four people have been arrested, the SP told media yesterday that no arrests have been made and investigation is going on," he added.

Today is the third day of the incident, but neither accused have been arrested nor has the family - widow and their 14-year-old daughter - got any compensation as announced by the civic authorities.
According to the FIR, the municipality staffers were clicking photos of the women defecating in the open in the Kacchi Basti of Mahtab Shah Colony on the outskirts of the Pratapgarh town. Khan came up to them and objected to their act. On this, the municipality staffers pounced on him, kicked him and beat him with stick. Khan collapsed on the spot, he was rushed to the civil hospital where he was declared brought dead.

Congress leader also said that the victim family has not got any compensation. He alleged that "the municipality authorities had announced Rs one lakh as compensation but when they were approached they agreed to increase the amount to Rs two lakh but on condition that the case against the staffers would be withdrawn." There is no male in Khan's family. He has wife and two daughters - one of them is married and another is 14 years old. Khan was leader of a labour organization and would run a kirana shop to earn livelihood. "In the wake of the lackadaisical attitude of the authorities, hundreds of locals gathered at the police station Saturday evening and to pacify the people, the police told them that some parts of the body have been sent for forensic examination and it appears he died of heart attack. The police is trying to suppress the case but they don't want to do it in one go given the anger of the people," said Nadeem Ansari.
http://www.indiatomorrow.net/eng/lynching-of-zafar-khan-three-days-on-no-arrests-no-compensation

See also
Amit Shah and the Toxic Consequences of ‘Clean Chit’ Jurisprudence by Indira Jaising // Yogi Adityanath decides not to sanction the prosecution of Yogi Adityanath
Ajmer blast case: Two including a former RSS worker get life imprisonment
A letter to Jaitley: Why do students get jailed but RSS leaders who issue vile threats walk freely?


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