The Supreme Court has admitted a contempt case against the Rajasthan government after a youth from Alwar was lynched by vigilante mobs on Friday. The bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud said the contempt petition against the Vasundhara Raje govt will be heard on August 28.
The decision comes in the wake of reports that said the lynching victim, 28-year-old Akbar Khan, was not given proper treatment after the mob attack while the police was busy moving the cows to the shelter.
The man was lynched on Friday night by villagers in Ramgarh when he was caught transporting cows on foot. Khan and his friend were taking two cows to their village when they were caught by a mob, who brutally beat them to death.
In a bizarre turn of events, it was revealed later that the police left the injured Khan to succumb to his injuries while the cows were attended to. The Indian Express reported that the police took two-and-a-half hours to take Akbar to a hospital, which was just 4 km away.
Meanwhile, the police took time to make arrangements to take the seized cows to a shelter. They finished that task, had a tea and then took Akbar to the hospital, but by then the man had died.
According to police records Akbar Khan was a resident of Kolgaon in Haryana. He and a friend were taking two cows to their village through a forest area near Lalawandi village in Alwar. It was suspected that the lynch mob had zeroed in on the hapless youth after fake messages were spread on WhatsApp. His associate managed to run away from the violent mob, reports said. Two suspects have been arrested in the case.
The latest in the serial lynching's came after the Supreme Court had asked the Central government to introduce legislation to stop mob violence. The government, however, passed the blame to social media platform WhatsApp, asking it to take steps to curb fake messages.
The contempt case against the Rajasthan government was filed by Tushar Gandhi and Tehseen Poonawala.
