The Ranchi High Court granted bail to seven of the thirteen accused in the Tabrez Ansari lynching case, senior advocate A Allam representing Tabrez’s family told The Quint on 10 December.
Bail was granted as the FIR did not name the accused, confessional statements made by the accused held no evidentiary value in court and the witnesses (policemen and locals) also did not name the accused in their statements to the judicial magistrate, Allam said.
"Bail has been granted on technical points. We urged the court to bring the police diary to help ensure the accused do not get bail, but they did not do that," Allam said.
12 of the total 13 accused had applied for bail. “While five were granted bail on 10 December, one was granted bail on 9 December. The bail application of five others is pending in court. They should be granted bail soon too,” Allam added.
Tabrez’s Family Shocked & Scared
Speaking to The Quint, Tabrez’s wife said that she is shocked at the development.
“Is the video wrong? What more do we need as evidence? First they dropped the murder charge and then they give them bail. What is happening?" Shahista said.
On 8 September The Quint had first reported how the Jharkhand police had dropped the murder charge in the case, on 18 September they were re-instated by the police after growing anger.
Reacting to the news of the accused being granted bail, Masroor Ansari said he was scared. He had brought Tabrez up after his parents had passed away while he was young,
"It has not even been six months since the brutal crime, how can they be granted bail? Let's see. We will work on getting the bail rejected and go to the Supreme Court. The accused are locally powerful. It is a matter of concern. We are scared," he said.
On 17 June, Tabrez was tied to a pole, accused of theft, forced to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Jai Hanuman’, and thrashed mercilessly for at least seven hours. Five days later, on 22 June, he succumbed to his injuries while he was in police custody.
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