Tabrez Ansari case: Will speak to Jharkhand govt, says MoS G Kishan Reddy

Citing the “final post-mortem report” that Ansari died of “cardiac arrest”, and stating that it was “not a case of pre-meditated murder”, police filed a chargesheet last month under Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder). Police had earlier invoked murder charge under IPC Section 302 in the FIR filed on a complaint by Ansari’s wife.

Responding to a question on why the state police had dropped the murder charge, Reddy said: “I do not know what happened in court. But I wish that whoever is found involved in any criminal activity, must be punished. We will talk to the state government on this.”

Reddy was speaking on the sidelines of an event organised by the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D).

Asked why lynching cases were being frequently reported from BJP-ruled states, Reddy said, “It’s not just under BJP governments, it is happening under all governments, even in West Bengal. I have said this in Rajya Sabha as well. It has been going on for so many years. It should be stopped. Even the Prime Minister has said this openly and categorically. It is unfortunate. I will speak to our government there.”

Reddy was at BPR&D to attend a conference on radicalisation in jails. He said there was a need to ensure safety and security of prisoners, and to convert prisons into centres of reformation.