Only 1 of 3 lynched men had crime history

GHAZIABAD: Only one of the three identified victims out of the four who were lynched by a mob in Balramnagar, Loni, on Sunday night, has so far been found to have a history of crime. Irfan of Delhi's Bhajanpura area has been booked for some cases of theft.
As reported earlier, four burglars who broke into the residence of an inter college principal on Sunday night had been beaten to death by area residents.While the residents had themselves claimed the four men had only fired one shot in the air, the police claimed the four were killed in an act of self-defence.
A senior police officer was clearly evasive when asked why no case of murder had been registered against those in the mob so far or why the Loni police officers who had watched the mob thrash the four men for half an hour had not been proceeded against.
When it was pointed out that area residents had bragged to mediapersons that their lynching of the four men had sent a message that people can dispense justice on their own, he replied, ``All this is being investigated. And if the kin of the four deceased file a complaint of murder, we will take necessary action. An inquiry, being carried out by SP (city) Anant Dev, will be completed in 15 days.''
When asked why the police officers who were present at the site did not file a report, being eyewitnesses, he said, ���They can. But we're just waiting until all the four deceased are identified, and the preliminary inquiry is completed.''
Till Wednesday night, the police said, three of the four victims had been identified. Besides Irfan, the other are ��� Laddan alias Shamshad alias Shahid of Delhi's New Seelampur and Shahzad of Loni.
When confronted with the charge that Loni police officers had remained mute spectators to the lynching, a police officer said, ``With thousands of angry people not allowing the cops to take the four men into custody, we had to be tactful, else tempers might have flared up.''
Talking about the incident, a prominent criminal lawyer, SP Chowdhary, said, ``I could laugh at the police claim if it was not such a serious matter. Self-defence ends after an assailant has been overpowered. Any use of force after that is murder if the victim dies. Those in the mob not only committed the murders, but were also guilty of rioting, illegal confinement, obstructing government servants in the discharge of their duties and several other crimes. They could, and should, have been arrested on the spot, without the requirement of any warrants.''
Another lawyer who didn't wish to be identified said this was a fit case for the National Human Rights Commission to take up suo motu. Otherwise, the police will remain indifferent.