HC junks father’s plea for CBI probe

THE PLEA WAS DISMISSED BY THE HIGH COURT ON THE QUESTION OF ‘MAINTAINABILITY’

CHANDIGARH: A Punjab and Haryana high court division bench on Tuesday dismissed a plea seeking CBI probe by the father of a Muslim youth lynched in Faridabad on a train allegedly by right-wing sympathisers on June 22 last year.

The plea was dismissed on the question of ‘maintainability’ as the state government had argued that in such criminal cases, the petitions dismissed by a single judge bench can only be challenged before the Supreme Court and not the division bench of an HC. The division bench has not heard the plea on merit.

The detailed order is, however, awaited.

Meanwhile, the HC division bench of Justices Rajesh Bindal and BS Walia gave the family two week’s time to approach the apex court. Till then, trial proceedings will remained stayed at the Faridabad court.

The deceased youth Junaid’s father Jalaluddin had moved against the single-bench order on dismissal of plea for CBI probe on December 5. Jalaluddin had filed the plea to the single judge bench in October 2017.

Junaid, 16, was stabbed to death when he, along with his brothers, was returning home to K hand aw li village after shopping for Eid in Delhi aboard a Mathura-bound train on June 22 last year. The family had alleged that the government was going soft on the accused since they were rightwing sympathisers. The police, however, had claimed that family demanded ₹2 crore from the accused to settle the matter.

Two persons — Naresh Kumar and Rameshwar Dass — have been charged with murder and four others are facing allegations of voluntarily causing hurt.

However, the family said, “The witnesses’ statements were deliberately distorted to introduce ambiguity, discrepancies and contradictions so as to benefit the accused.

It added, “The investigating agency (police) has carried out a seemingly casual and shoddy investigation.”

However, the single judge bench, in its order, had said that the father’s allegations of a deliberate attempt to subvert or derail the investigation ‘lacks substance’.

“Grievance of the complainant regarding non-inclusion of additional accused or omission of certain offences cannot be a ground for transfer of investigation to CBI, that too after proceedings have made some headway,” the single judge bench had stated.