Plea for shifting Alwar lynching trial to be heard

NEWDELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a petition filed by the father of Alwar mob lynching victim, Rakbar Khan, requesting the top court to shift the trial in the case out of Rajasthan because he wasn’t sure of a fair hearing in the state.

Alleging interference in the probe by the Alwar MLA, Gyandev Ahuja of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Khan’s father, Sulaiman Meo, also sought handing over the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation or, alternatively, for a court monitored probe.

Ahuja termed the allegations levelled in the petition as baseless and claimed that innocent people have been charge-sheeted by the police. “Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria himself visited the spot and declared that Rakbar Khan died in police custody.judicial probe is still going on and police should have waited for the inquiry report before submitting the charge-sheet in the local court,” he said.

Sulaiman Meo also cast asper- sion on the impartiality of investigations by Rajasthan Police. “Attempts are being made to manipulate and botch up the investigation with a view to shield and save the real culprits” he said in the petition.

Khan (28) was allegedly beaten up by cow vigilantes in Alwar district’s Ramgarh area on July 20, this year, when he was leading two cows from Ladpura village to his home to Haryana. On September 7, police filed a 25-page chargesheet in the case against three Alwar villagers.

The charge sheet asserts that Khan was killed by a mob and interestingly doesn’t mention the role of police in his death. It later emerged that Khan was indeed beaten up by a group of cow vigilantes in Lalawandi village who suspected him of smuggling cows, but that he died in police custody while the policemen in charge ensured the cows were safely transported to a Gaushala.

The petition, which will be heard by the top court next week also seeks compensation, citing Khan to be the sole earning member of his family.