SC to Hear Hapur Lynching After Main Accused Admit to Crime on Cam

The main accused in Alwar and Hapur lynching cases admitted to their crimes on camera in an NDTV sting.

A screenshot of the NDTV exclusive. 

(Photo Courtesy: Youtube Screengrab)

The Supreme Court will hear on August 13 the plea of a survivor of the Hapur lynching case, seeking a court-monitored SIT probe into the incident.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices D Y Chandrachud and Indira Banerjee took the decision a day after a TV channel aired a report in which the accused, currently out on bail, accepted committing the crime on camera.

The appeal has also sought the revocation of the bail granted to the accused.

The lawyers for the Hapur victims approached the top court for an urgent hearing after NDTV, in its segment “Reality Check” on Monday, 6 August, aired videos of the main accused in the Hapur and the Pehlu Khan lynching cases.

Earlier in June, 38-year-old Qasim was lynched and 65-year-old Shamsuddin severely injured in Uttar Pradesh’s Hapur district when a group of angry people attacked them on the suspicion that they were cow slaughterers.

The four accused in the case were granted bail after they told the court that they had no role in the attack.

Just a year ago, Pehlu Khan, a dairy farmer, was bludgeoned to death in Rajasthan's Alwar district. The reason: Khan was allegedly “transporting cows for slaughter”. The accused, even in this case, are out on bail.

In its sting operation, NDTV caught two prime accused – Rakesh Sisodia and Vipin Yadav – in the aforementioned cases on hidden camera, accepting that they had indeed committed the crime.

An NDTV reporter, posing as a “research scholar” from the USA, attempting to understand the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Hindutva, interacted with Sisodia and Yadav.

'Qasim Killed Cows, I Killed Him’

Sisodia, one of the accused in the murder of Qasim, accepted on the camera that he was proud of his act. He even told the "research scholar" that he had informed even the jail authorities about what he had done.

I told the jailer: Qasim killed cows, I killed him.

Rakesh Sisodia

The only thing that he regretted was that the lynching had been caught on camera.

Qasim kept begging me for water. I told him you didn’t give water to the dying cow. I won’t give it to you.

Rakesh Sisodia

He also says that the police has been in the favour of the accused.

‘Had Beaten Pehlu for 1.5 Hours’

The main accused in the Pehlu Khan lynching, Vipin Yadav told NDTV that he was among the crowd and head beaten the man for 1.5 hours.

He said that the police had failed to arrest him before they saw him on a video, adding that he was there throughout.

I was there. The keys from his trucks were in my pockets. 

Vipin Yadav

“Initially, there were 10 people, then 20, and then the crowd swelled to hundreds. The police came and arrested six-seven people randomly. By the time they came, I had fled the spot,” Yadav said.