The district court in Alwar, Rajasthan has rejected the plea filed by Rakbar Khan’s mother for transferring the cow-vigilante mob lynching trial to another court. Khan was brutally beaten up by a mob in July 2018 as he, along with his friend Aslam, was walking with two cows towards his home. Khan’s mother, Habiban and his friend, Aslam filed the application for transfer citing lack of trust in the ADJ court which is hearing the case
Habiban argued before the District court that she has no hope from the ADJ court hearing the case and even claimed that the case has been ‘managed’ by the accused, who have openly told them that “faisla hum humare favour mein kara ke chhorenge (We will ensure the judgment is in our favour).”
District sessions judge Sangeeta Sharma rejected the plea stating that she cannot interfere in the working of additional district Judge Sarita Swami due to lack of jurisdiction and also since ADJ Sarita Swami’s court is a designated court for hearing mob lynching matters.
As per Indian Express, in the transfer plea, it is stated, “Since the beginning, the ‘rukh’ (attitude) of the presiding officer has been in favour of the accused, and she favours them during the writing down of evidence.”
Further, it has also been claimed, “Evidence based prosecution is still going on yet they have come to know that the judgment is already being written,” reported IE.
Background
Rakbar Khan was brutally attacked by a cow vigilante mob in July 2018, when he and his friend Aslam Khan were transporting milch cows on foot to their home in Haryana’s Kolgaon from a village in Alwar. Aslam managed an escape but Rakbar was lynched and succumbed to his injuries. An FIR was registered under Sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 341 (wrongful restraint), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 302 (murder) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code and four men have been chargesheeted in the case.
A Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader in the district and then local BJP MLA Gyan Dev Ahuja, who has now been promoted to the rank of BJP’s vice-president in Rajasthan, are said to be involved in the case, reported The Wire.
As per the chargesheet, the accused had planned Rakbar’s lynching and they were secretly waiting in the field that day. One more thing revealed in the chargesheet was that the police first dropped the cows ‘saved’ by the mob to a cow shelter, and only then took severely injured Rakbar to the hospital.
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