A fact-finding report exposed how the police is shielding the accused of Pehlu Khan lynching. The report points out the contradictions in the police narrative and deliberate attempt being made by the police to weaken the case.
“This report contains the findings of an independent civil society investigation into the actions of the police and the prosecution so far. The records establish that the police and the prosecution have, through acts of commission and omission, worked from the day of the attack to diminish the enormity of the crime, weakening the case against the accused. This is akin to sabotage, perhaps deliberate, of the judicial process that should instead be marshalled to punish the culprits,” noted the report which was released by several noted Supreme Court lawyers and Human Rights Activists at Press Club of India in New Delhi on 26 October.
The report alleged the police of “delaying FIR registration without any explanation, not invoking appropriate IPC sections for conspiracy, attempt to murder, destruction of evidence and dacoity, etc. rather than invoked IPC sections for lesser crimes, such as wrongful restraint and causing hurt, with smaller punishments. The police also did not arrest the accused named in the dying declaration, exonerated named accused on dubious testimonies, failed to arrest any attackers from the crime scene and failed to defend arrests leading to the accused getting bail.
The report raises grave doubts about the reasons the police have accorded to declare the six men as innocent and makes the exoneration highly suspect. The police claim they did not find any witness that those six accused were present on the crime scene while the chargesheet filed in May said the police investigation had found evidence that the six were involved in the crime. Where is that evidence? The report also found that the cattle which were looted from Mr. Khan were found in the cowshed of one of the accused Jagmal Yadav.
Releasing the report, Teesta Setalvad, Human Rights Activist, said, “We want to make public our plan that having formed a committee we all collectively will fight all the cases related to mob lynching committed by cow terrorists one by one as we made efforts in Gujarat where we succeeded to some extent. We will register a protest petition in the case of Pehlu Khan. Registering protest petition is the right of a citizen.”
Prashant Bhushan, a prominent lawyer of the Supreme Court and Political Activist, said, “This is the study of one incident of killing, lynching and hooliganism in the name of cow protection happened across the country. More than 25 such incidents happened across the country in the last months. A team of hooligans have been prepared in the name of cow. They are doing all this by the support of the governments. Police are also working with them as this report revealed. Police always file case against the victim rather than the attackers. In all the cases of killing in the name of cow protection, the patterns are more or less same. This is very dangerous. This is the direct indication of fascism.”