Plea before Supreme Court to cancel bail granted to Kanhaiya Lal murder accused

The Supreme Court has issued notice on a plea to cancel the bail granted to Mohammed Javed, who is accused of passing on information that enabled two assailants to murder Rajasthani tailor Kanhaiya Lal in broad daylight.

Lal was hacked to death by the two assailants after he shared a message on social media supporting certain controversial remarks against Prophet Muhammad made by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson, Nupur Sharma during a television debate in 2022.

The two assailants entered Kanhaiya Lal's shop at Udaipur in June 2022, pretending to be customers, and attacked him using sharp knifes. The attackers killed Lal and injured two others. Later, a video made by the assailants shouting communal slogans and justifying the murder had gone viral.

Javed, who worked at a nearby shop, was accused of passing on information regarding Lal's whereabouts to the two main accused.

The Rajasthan High Court granted bail to Javed in September this year. This has been challenged before the Supreme Court by the complainant.

The Bench of Justices MM Sundresh and Aravind Kumar issued notice in the matter to the National Investigating Agency (which is investigating the murder case) and the Rajasthan government on November 11, Monday.

During yesterday's hearing, advocate Namit Saxena appeared for the complainant and argued that the role of the accused is very serious, while urging for the cancellation of bail.

In the judgment under challenge, the Rajasthan High Court had granted Javed bail on finding a lack of clarity about his location when he was alleged to have conducted the reconnaissance for the two persons who killed Kanhaiya Lal.

The High Court had accepted the contention of the defence counsel that the NIA had, prima facie, failed to prove Javed’s location from mobile call details as well as the allegation that he conspired with the two main accused.