Breaking his silence on the Jharkhand mob lynching incident, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that he was pained by it and declared that the perpetrators should be given maximum punishment.
But he slammed the Opposition for labelling Jharkhand as a hub of lynching.
"The lynching in Jharkhand has pained me. The perpetrators should be given maximum punishment. But some people in the Rajya Sabha are calling Jharkhand a hub of lynching. Is this fair? Why are they insulting a state? None of us has the right to insult Jharkhand," Modi said in his reply to the motion of thanks to the President's address in Rajya Sabha.
22-year-old Tabrez Ansari was allegedly attacked by a mob in Saraikela-Kharsawan district of Jharkhand on suspicion of theft on June 18. He was beaten up mercilessly for hours before being handed over to the police. He succumbed to his injuries at a local hospital on June 22.
Tabrez's family has alleged that the attack was communal and that he was made to chant 'Jai Shri Ram' and 'Jai Hanuman'.
An FIR has been registered and further investigation is underway.
In the wake of the incident, the Opposition attacked the BJP saying whether this was the "new India" promised by Modi during the elections and accused the ruling party of creating a sense of hatred against Muslims in the society.
( With inputs from ANI )