Alwar Lynching: SC to Hear Plea to Move Trial Outside Rajasthan

Rakbar Khan, also known as Akbar, was allegedly lynched by an angry mob on the suspicion that he was smuggling cattle into Rajasthan’s Alwar district. (Image used for representation only.)

(Photo: Harsh Sahani/The Quint)

The Supreme Court on Monday, 10 September, agreed to hear a plea filed by the victim Rakbar Khan’s father in the Alwar lynching case, seeking to shift the trial outside Rajasthan. According to Hindustan Times, Khan’s father asked to shift the trial as he wasn’t sure of a fair hearing within the state.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice DY Chandrachud said it would hear the plea next week after the counsel appearing for Rakbar Khan's father and key witness in the case mentioned the matter pleading for an early hearing.

In his petition, Rakbar's father also sought a probe by a special investigation team. He alleged interference in the probe by Gyandev Ahuja, the Alwar MLA from BJP, Hindustan Times reported.

Attempts are being made to manipulate and botch up the investigation with a view to shield and save the real culprits.

Sulaiman Meo, Khan’s father, in the petition.

Rakbar Khan, 28, was beaten to death by suspected cow vigilantes in Rajasthan's Alwar district on 24 July.

Alwar has witnessed similar attacks in the name of cow protectionism. The latest killing comes more than a year after Pehlu Khan was murdered allegedly by cow vigilantes in April 2017.

The central and state governments have come under sharp criticism from the top court over frequent lynching incidents across the country.

The court had condemned the mob lynching incidents and suggested enactment of a law in Parliament to deal with the crime that threatens the rule of law and the country's social fabric.

(Inputs from IANS, Hindustan Times)