Ranchi, December 22: Additional district and session judge of Latehar civil court on Friday sentenced eight people to life imprisonment for lynching two Muslim cattle traders in Latehar district of Jharkhand. Additional District Judge (ADJ) Rishikesh Kumar awarded life imprisonment to all the accused and also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 with the direction that if they fail to pay the sum they would have to undergo additional year in jail. Cow Vigilantism: Supreme Court Urges Centre To Frame Separate Law On Lynching, Says 'Mobocracy Can't Be Allowed'.

The accused- Sahdeo Soni, Vishal Tiwari, Mithlesh Prasad Sahu, Arun Sah, Manoj Sah, Awadhesh Sahu, Manoj Sao, and Pramod Sao - were held guilty on Wednesday under Section 302 (murder) and 34 (criminal act done with common intention) of Indian Penal Code (IPC). The convict had murdered, Imtiyaz Khan and Mazrum Ansari, the victims.

Family members of the victims are not satisfied with a quantum of the sentence. "We seek the death penalty for the killers and compensation for the family members to eke out a living," said Sayra Bibi, wife of Mazrum Ansari. Alwar Lynching: Man Beaten to Death by Mob on Suspicion of Being Cow Smuggler, CM Vasundhara Raje Condemns Incident.

On March 2016, Imtiyaz and Mazrum were severely beaten and later hanged from a tree by a mob of so-called Gau Rakshaks in Latehar district's Khaprelwar village. The attacker used a nylon cord, used to hold cattle, to tie hands of Khan and Ansari and hanged them from the tree. Later their bodies were found hanging by locals with gamchas (small cloth towel) in their mouth.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 22, 2018 09:08 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).