New Delhi, Jul 7 (IT): At a time when the central government is claiming that it is taking steps to control cases of mob lynching, Union Minister Jayant Sinha met eight people convicted in the Ramgarh lynching case in Jharkhand.

Not only did the minister meet them, he went ahead to garland them.

This was after the Jharkhand High Court granted bail to the eight men. They have been convicted by a lower court of lynching a man named Alimuddin Ansari, 40, on June 29 last year in Jharkhand's Ramgarh.

Alimuddin was lynched on the suspicion that he was transporting beef in his vehicle, which in turn was later set on fire.

The minister met the convicts at an event organised by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to welcome the high court's bail order and felicitate the convicts.

Speaking at the event, BJP MLA Shankar Choudhary said advocate BB Tripathi, who represented the eight men for the bail plea, was like god and helped them get bails.

A total of 12 people were accused in the Ramgarh lynching case. Eleven of them have been held guilty and awarded death sentence by a fast-track court. The 12th person is a minor and his trial is being conducted in a juvenile court.

Photographs from the event show Sinha standing with the eight convicts and felicitating them.

Choudhary said the BJP will organise a celebratory procession in Ramgarh.

Meanwhile, on the other hand, a pall of gloom continues to envelop Alimuddin's house. His wife, Maryam Khatun, said she will move the Supreme Court against the bail order.