Pehlu Khan lynching case: Court acquits all six accused

Pehlu Khan in a screengrab sourced from a video on YouTube

Jaipur: The Alwar sessions court on Wednesday acquitted all six accused in the Pehlu Khan lynching case giving them the benefit of doubt. The verdict comes almost two years after Pehlu Khan was lynched by a mob of cow vigilantes. The judgement was announced by Dr Sarita Swami in the court of Alwar additional district and session judge number-1.

The hearing of the case ended on August 7 and nine people were held accused in the case which also included three minors who were out on bail. The family of the victim produced 44 witnesses.

Khan's advocate Kasim Khan said the case has not been investigated properly and that the police produced a charge sheet under political pressure. "We shall study the judgement and will chalk out our strategy," he said

Pehlu Khan (55) was a resident of Nuh (Haryana). On April 1, 2017, he was thrashed by a mob when he was transporting cattle in a pickup van on suspicion of smuggling cows from Rajasthan to Haryana, which led to his death on April 3, 2017, in a government hospital.

The incident was recorded on camera too which showed Pehlu Khan being beaten by an aggressive crowd. The court was apparently not satisfied even with the video evidence. The Rajasthan police had given a clean chit to the six people named by Pehlu Khan in his dying statement in 2017. The remaining three accused are minors and are being tried in a juvenile court.

However, Rajasthan Additional Chief Secretary (Home), Rajeeva Swarup said that the State government has decided to appeal against the judgement in 2017 Pehlu Khan lynching case (Alwar).

Yogendra Singh, the counsel for the Pehlu Khan's side, said that they were waiting for the copy of the order and will have to see it before challenging it in the higher court. "The decision of the Court will have to be respected. The Court has released them on the basis of lack of evidence. We will wait for the copy of the order and after going through it we will challenge it in a higher court," Singh told ANI.

Edited by mid-day online desk with inputs from IANS

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