Jharkhand High Court on Friday refused to grant bail to the main accused in the Tabrez Ansari lynching case, Pappu Mandal, leaving the victim’s family members hopeful.

Tabrez’s uncle Md Masroor Alam, speaking to The Telegraph on Saturday, said they were happy that the bail of principal accused Pappu had been rejected by the court of Justice R. Mukhopadhyaya on Friday.

But the elderly Alam also blamed police callousness for the other seven accused getting bail from the same court last month.

“We are happy over this latest denial of bail. But this development also shows that the police had failed to file the chargesheet in a proper manner against the other seven accused, because the same court had accepted their bail pleas despite several evidences of their involvement in the lynching of my nephew Tabrez, including video footage,” Alam said, speaking over the phone from Behrasai under Kharsawan block of neighbouring Seraikela-Kharsawan, around 53km east of Jamshedpur.

Shaista Perveen, 20, Tabrez’s widow, said she had faith in the court but not police. “Hamein court par bharosa hai, par police thik se kam nahin kar rahi hai…. (We have faith in the court but the police are not doing their work properly),” Shaista said, adding she wanted speedy justice.

“I want speedy trial of the case in the Seraikela district court so that justice is served at the earliest. I won’t rest till death sentence is given to all the accused who lynched my husband. I have heard that Pappu Mandal had even come to the Seraikela police lock-up, when my husband was injured but alive. Pappu Mandal had apparently expressed his surprise that my husband was still alive after being thrashed so badly,” she said.

Shaista and Tabrez, 24, had been married barely two months when Tabrez was lynched by a mob at Dhatkidih village in Seraikela near Jamshedpur over suspicious that he was trying to steal a bike in the intervening ight of June 17 and 18.

Tabrez succumbed to his injuries on June 22 at Tata Main Hospital in Jamshedpur. A video showing Tabrez tied to a pole as people thrashed him and heckled him to chant Jai Shri Ram and Jai Hanuman, surfaced on the Internet around that time. The brutality of the attack had shocked the nation.

Pappu, 25, a resident of Dhatkidih village is also a member of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (the youth wing of BJP).

The other seven accused, Kamal Mahato, Bhimsen Mandal, Satyanarayan Nayak, Mahesh Mahali, Madan Nayak, Chamu Nayak and Bikram Mandal, got bail granted by the same court in December 2019.

Altaf Hussain, the legal counsel for the victim in Seraikela district court, told The Telegraph that they would definitely be pushing for a speedy trial in the case.

“The Tabrez case has been listed in the court of additional district sessions judge on February 3 and we will petition for a speedy trial. There is enough evidence and extreme punishment should be given to the accused,” said the lawyer.

A. Allam, legal counsel on behalf of Shaista Perveen in the high court, added the charge of direct allegation against Pappu Mandal led to the rejection of the bail plea.

“Pappu Mandal has been charged with involvement, right from inciting crowds and involvement in the mob lynching episode, which led to the bail plea rejected by court. This was not done in the case of other seven accused,” Allam said.