A two judge bench of Justices Kurian Joseph and Mohan Shantanagoudar of Supreme Court today stayed the trial of Junaid Khan lynching case while listening to a plea filed by his father Jalaludeen seeking CBI investigation in the case.
The court has also issued notices to the state and CBI in the same matter. Junaid’s father had approached the Supreme Court after the Punjab and Haryana High Court on 6th March had upheld the single Judge’s order dismissing his plea for CBI investigation. According to the plea filed by Junaid’s father has alleged that the investigating agency has miserably failed to charge the accused under Section 153A (promoting enmity on the basis of religion etc.), 153B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 149 (unlawful assembly) of the Indian Penal Code. It has also been alleged that no proper investigation procedures have been followed by the investigating agencies i.e. the State Police.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court while dismissing the petition filed by Junaid’s father for CBI Investigation had observed that “It is evident that allegations and counter allegations have been levelled in the affidavits filed by the complainant’s side and the state. However, this court does not intend to express any opinion or delve deeper into the issue. Trial of the case is at crucial stage and important prosecution witnesses have to depose, some of whom may be injured. It is, thus necessary to ensure that trial proceeds in the right earnest and evidence is led promptly to ensure that it culminates. This court has no doubt that trial court would have enough expertise to swift the grain from the chaff and arrive at a fair conclusion.”
The court also opined that the allegations of subversion trial against the present investigating machinery lacked substance and thus the petition was dismissed.
This whole matter of lynching in June last year when fifteen year old Junaid, his brother and two cousins were attacked on a Mathura bound train by a mob which also hurled communal slurs at them. During the attack, Junaid was stabbed to death. The trial court of Faridabad had recently framed charges against main accused Naresh Kumar, Rameshwar Dass and others.
