Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday slammed Union Minister Jayant Sinha for felicitating eight men convicted for killing a meat trader in Jharkhand last year and urged citizens to support a petition asking the Harvard University to withdraw minister's Alumni status.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday slammed Union Minister Jayant Sinha for felicitating eight men convicted for killing a meat trader in Jharkhand last year and urged citizens to support a petition asking the Harvard University to withdraw minister's alumni status.
A group of people had lynched Alimuddin Ansari, 40, in Bazaar Tand locality of Ramgarh town on June 29, 2017, on the suspicion that he was carrying beef in his car. Forensic tests later confirmed that the meat he was carrying was beef.
In March this year, a fast track court convicted 11 people for lynching. However, last week, Jharkhand High Court suspended the life sentence of eight persons, including a BJP functionary.
After getting bail, the convicts walked out of the Jai Prakash Narain Central Jail and headed straight to Sinha's residence where they were welcomed with garlands.
Slamming Sinha, Rahul Gandhi asked people to support a petition created on change.org which is filed by Prateek Kanwal, a 2018 graduate from Harvard University.
"If the sight of a highly educated MP & Central Minister, Jayant Sinha, garlanding & honouring criminals convicted of lynching an innocent man, fills you with disgust, click on the link & support this petition," Rahul said in a tweet.
In a petition, Kanwal has posted a letter written to Harvard University President Lawrence Bacow to bring his attention to the 'infamy' that one of alumni, Mr. Jayant Sinha (Harvard Business School, 1992) has gained in India and the disrepute he has brought to the university by his intemperate actions.
"Sinha’s callous and insensitive actions, have generated tremendous anger in India and have been widely reported in newspapers, on television news channels, social media and other digital platforms. Unfortunately, most media reports allude to the fact that he is an alumnus of Harvard University. Which is our reason for writing to you – to draw your attention to the fact that the Harvard’s name is being sullied in India, on account of its association with Sinha," he said in a letter.
However, defending his actions, Sinha said that the Ranchi High Court has suspended the sentence of the accused and released them on bail and he was honouring the law.
Sinha said that he has repeatedly expressed his misgivings about the Fast-Track Court judgement sentencing each accused to life imprisonment. "I am pleased that the Hon'ble High Court will hear the matter as a statutory court of appeal to test the correctness of the Fast-Track Court order.I have full faith in our judicial system and the rule of law. Unfortunately, irresponsible statements are being made about my actions when all that I am doing is honoring the due process of law. Those that are innocent will be spared and the guilty will be appropriately punished," the minister said.
In April too, Sinha had raised doubts over the police investigation and demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the Ramgarh lynching case.
Showing his angst against his son's behaviour, Yashwant Sinha had tweeted: "Earlier I was the Nalayak Baap of a Layak Beta. Now the roles are reversed. That is twitter. I do not approve of my son's action. But I know even this will lead to further abuse. You can never win."
Former Mumbai police commissioner Julio Ribeiro, former chief information commissioner Wajahat Habibullah and 41 other retired bureaucrats have demanded that Union minister Jayant Sinha be sacked for felicitating eight people convicted in a lynching case, saying his action shows "there is a licence to kill minorities".
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