Gumla Lynching: Jharkhand HC Grants Anticipatory Bail to Victims

More than three months after four villagers in Jharkhand's Gumla district were beaten on the suspicion of cow slaughter, the Jharkhand High Court on Monday, 19 August, granted anticipatory bail to the victims.

The victims were booked by the state under its cow slaughter law.

On 10 April, Prakash Lakra (50), Peter Kerketta (50), Belarius Tirkey (60) and Janerius Minj (35) of Jurmu village were beaten by a group of over 30 people from another community of the neighbouring Jairagi village for cutting the flesh off a dead ox.

The police had rushed the four tribal Christians to the Community Health Centre in the Dumri block of Gumla, where Lakra was declared dead.

A doctor at the Health Centre said that all three injured faced difficulty in walking and were writhing in pain as they were beaten on their arms, shoulder, and scapula region.

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Two days after the lynching, as the village had been coping from the shock, the Jharkhand police booked the three injured under the state’s bovine slaughter act and arrested two of the seven charged with the murder of Lakra.