A fast track court in Ramgarh, Jharkhand, has convicted 11 people for lynching a meat trader in June last year.
This is the first conviction in beef lynching cases in the country, according to reports.
Judge Om Prakash found the 11 people guilty under various sections of the IPC, including 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting with deadly weapons) and 149 (unlawful assembly).
The quantum of punishment would be pronounced on March 21.
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.
The sale of beef is banned in the state.
Additional Public Prosecutor S K Sukla said there were 12 accused and one of them is a minor.
The prosecution has moved the Juvenile Justice Board with a prayer that the minor be treated as an adult in the case, Sukla said.
The chargesheet against the accused was filed in the case on September 17.
Phone call records had revealed that one of the accused followed Ansari for about two hours on June 29, informed two others about the victim's location, before intercepting him at Bazaar Tand. The mob had also torched the vehicle of the victim.
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(PTI)
