Edit incident article: 2018 Godda lynching

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<languages/> <translate> <!--T:9--> The '''2018 Godda lynching''' was the killing of two men, Sirabuddin Ansari (also reported as Chiraguddin or Charku Ansari) and Murtaza Ansari, by villagers in Godda district, [[Jharkhand]], on 13 June 2018.<ref name="wire-2018" /><ref name="scroll-2025" /> The villagers accused them of stealing buffaloes.<ref name="quint-2018" /> Police arrested four men, and the local Member of Parliament, Nishikant Dubey, said he would pay their legal expenses.<ref name="wire-2018" /><ref name="scroll-2025" /> == Incident == <!--T:10--> <!--T:11--> According to police, five people stole about 13 buffaloes from Munshi Murmu and others in Dullu village, a tribal-majority village in Godda district, on the night of 12 June 2018.<ref name="wire-2018" /> Villagers who noticed the cattle missing gave chase, and residents of neighbouring Bankatti village caught two of the men with the animals early on 13 June, while three others escaped.<ref name="quint-2018" /><ref name="wire-2018" /> The two men were beaten to death.<ref name="quint-2018" /> <!--T:12--> The men killed were Sirabuddin Ansari, 35, and Murtaza Ansari, 30, residents of Taljhari, about 200 km from Ranchi.<ref name="wire-2018" /><ref name="quint-2018" /> According to a PTI report cited by The Wire, the attackers brought the bodies back to Dullu on bicycles.<ref name="wire-2018" /> Godda Superintendent of Police Rajeev Ranjan Singh said the stolen cattle were recovered and called the incident "a simple case of theft", adding that the two men had previously been jailed.<ref name="quint-2018" /> == Investigation and legal proceedings == <!--T:13--> <!--T:14--> Police registered two first information reports: one for theft on the complaint of the villagers, and one for murder and rioting on the complaint of one victim's father.<ref name="quint-2018" /><ref name="sabrang-dubey" /> Four men, including the owner of the buffaloes, were arrested and booked under Indian Penal Code sections on murder and rioting.<ref name="wire-2018" /><ref name="quint-2018" /> The superintendent of police said police treated it as a case of theft and not of cow vigilantism.<ref name="sabrang-dubey" /> No report of a trial outcome was found. == Reactions == <!--T:15--> <!--T:16--> Godda MP Nishikant Dubey of the Bharatiya Janata Party said he would pay the legal expenses of the four arrested men "from the lower court to the Supreme Court".<ref name="sabrang-dubey" /> He said the four men had been unfairly singled out, stating that "the entire village was involved in the beating".<ref name="scroll-2025" /> Congress MLA Irfan Ansari called Dubey's offer "shameful".<ref name="sabrang-dubey" /> <!--T:17--> The National Herald reported that the two men were brothers and that their father denied the theft allegation, saying his sons were cattle traders.<ref name="nh-2018" /> A video circulated after the incident showed one of the men slung over a bamboo pole and dragged by the attackers.<ref name="nh-2018" /><ref name="sabrang-dubey" /> In 2018 Dubey filed a police complaint about a threatening phone call in which, he said, the caller abused him for funding the defence; in 2025 he withdrew the case after a probe found that a Hindu man had posed as a Muslim to make the threats.<ref name="scroll-2025" /> == Aftermath == <!--T:18--> <!--T:19--> In July 2018 the family of Chiraguddin (Charku) Ansari alleged that police had harassed them when officers came to their house at night to take away his son in a looting case; his brother said the son had earlier paid a police officer a bribe to come to the scene of the lynching.<ref name="sabrang-2018" /> The superintendent of police said officers had gone to question a cousin, not the son, and that no case had been registered against the family.<ref name="sabrang-2018" /> </translate> == <translate><!--T:20--> References</translate> == <references> <ref name="quint-2018">{{Cite news|url=https://www.thequint.com/amp/story/news/india/muslim-men-lynched-over-alleged-cattle-theft-in-jharkhand|title=Two Muslim Men Lynched in Jharkhand Over Alleged Cattle Theft|publisher=The Quint|date=2018-06-13|access-date=2026-10-31}}</ref> <ref name="wire-2018">{{Cite news|url=https://m.thewire.in/article/rights/jharkhand-godda-lynching/amp|title=Two Men Lynched in Jharkhand's Godda Over Suspicion of Cattle Theft|publisher=The Wire|date=2018-06-14|access-date=2026-10-31}}</ref> <ref name="sabrang-dubey">{{Cite news|url=https://sabrangindia.in/bjp-mp-foot-legal-bill-lynching-accused-jharkhand/|title=BJP MP to foot legal bill of lynching accused in Jharkhand|publisher=SabrangIndia|date=2018-06-21|access-date=2026-10-31}}</ref> <ref name="sabrang-2018">{{Cite news|url=https://sabrangindia.in/godda-lynching-victims-family-alleges-police-hrassment/|title=Godda Lynching Victim's family alleges Police Hrassment|publisher=SabrangIndia|date=2018-07-21|access-date=2026-10-31}}</ref> <ref name="nh-2018">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/amp/story/india/two-muslim-men-lynched-in-jharkhand-india-is-mobocracy-under-modi-rule|title=Anger at Jharkhand lynching: 'India is mobocracy under Modi rule'|publisher=National Herald|date=2018-06-14|access-date=2026-10-31}}</ref> <ref name="scroll-2025">{{Cite news|url=https://scroll.in/latest/1086223/scroll_in|title=BJP MP withdraws case after probe finds Hindu man posed as Muslim to make death threats|publisher=Scroll.in|date=2025-09-04|access-date=2026-10-31}}</ref> </references> {{Incident navbox}}