Rajasthan Court acquits all accused persons in Pehlu Khan lynching case [Read Judgment]

A Sessions Court in Rajasthan’s Alwar yesterday acquitted all the accused persons in the Pehlu Khan lynching case..Judge Sarita Swami acquitted Vipin Yadav, Ravindra Kumar, Kalu Ram, Dayanand and Bheem Singh Rathi of charges under Sections 147, 341, 323, 302, 308, 427, 379 read with Section 149 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860..The Court opined that the prosecution had failed to prove the guilt of the accused persons ‘beyond reasonable doubt’, entitling the accused persons to the ‘benefit of the doubt’..On April 1, 2017, Pehlu Khan, his two sons and four others were attacked by a mob on the National Highway linking Jaipur to Delhi on the suspicion of cow smuggling. Pehlu Khan succumbed to his injuries a few days later in a hospital in Alwar. The incident became a matter of prime time news after videos of the attack went viral on social media..Vipin Yadav and others were arrayed as accused in the case based on the two videos of the incident which were recorded by bystanders. The Court, however, refused to rely on the videos to convict the accused..Reliance on the first video was refused on the ground that the mobile phone which was allegedly used to record the video, was never seized by the Police. The mobile phone was thus not sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory to examine if the video was tampered with or not, the Court stated..The second video was also discarded after the person who witnessed the video being made turned hostile before the Court..The Court also raised several objections with respect to the statement of Pehlu Khan which was recorded under Section 161 CrPC while he was in the ICU..The Court observed that Pehlu Khan’s statement was recorded without a statement from his doctors with respect to his mental and physical condition. Further, it also noted that the statement was presented before the concerned police station after a delay of 16 hours for lodging a complaint..The Court also stated that since the names of the accused persons did not feature in the Sec 161 statement, it was imperative that they were identified by the victim during the investigation. However, the same was not done..Based on the above, the Court concluded that there were serious lacunae in the investigation which cast a shadow of doubt on the prosecution’s case..The Court thus acquitted all the accused..Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Ashok Gehlot has stated that the State Government will move an appeal against the order of acquittal..[Read Judgement]