IAMC Special News Roundup on Pehlu Khan Lynching Fact-Finding Report- October 26th, 2017 - IAMC
no-image IAMC
News Digest

IAMC Special News Roundup on Pehlu Khan Lynching Fact-Finding Report- October 26th, 2017

In this SPECIAL IAMC News Roundup:

News Headlines

Opinions & Editorials

Police ‘diluted’ Pehlu Khan lynching case, finds independent probe (Oct 26, 2017, The Tribune)

An independent fact-finding investigation into the lynching of Pehlu Khan, a dairy farmer, earlier this year by cow vigilantes has exposed how police tried to “weaken” the investigation by delaying filing of the FIR and invoking IPC sections of crimes with lesser punishment. The investigation termed the police action as “monumental inefficiency” or a “deliberate attempt to weaken the cases against the accused gaurakshaks”.…

The independent investigation also revealed that the accused named in Khan’s “dying declaration” were not arrested and police failed to defend the arrests they made in court, as five of the seven got out on bail.… The report said FIR was filed nine-and-half-hours after the incident, though the scene of the crime is only 2 km from the police station. “The FIR claims that the police were informed of the attack at 3.54 am” on April 2, but “according to the FIR the attack took place during 7 pm-10 pm on April 1”, and does not explain the delay, the report states.

Another major finding of the report was the invoking of IPC sections of crimes with lesser punishments among others. “The FIR does not invoke Sec 307 of the IPC for the offence of “attempt to murder” which provides for imprisonment of 10 years to life. Instead, the FIR invokes Sec 308, which only takes cognisance of “attempt to culpable homicide not amounting to murder”, prescribing imprisonment of three to seven years,” the report said. Also several sections of IPC which amount to criminal conspiracy, rioting with weapon, promoting religious enmity, which would have made the case stronger were ignored by police, according to the report.…

http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/nation/police-diluted-pehlu-khan-lynching-case-finds-independent-probe/487588.html

SEE ALSO:

[Back to Top]

Pehlu Khan lynching probe: 10 loopholes likely to be challenged in courts (Oct 26, 2017, India Today)

The closure of the probe in the Pehlu Khan lynching case that took place in Alwar in April this year is all set to be challenged in the courts. The case will go to the courts after an independent investigation by freelance journalist Ajit Sahi blew the lid off an alleged cover-up by the Rajasthan police.

It is this investigation report that civil rights’ activists led by Teesta Setalvad and others plan to use to highlight police inaction in the controversial lynching case. Journalist Sahi took four months to complete the probe based completely on police documents. His investigation pokes holes in the police theory. And Pehlu Khan’s lynching isn’t the only case he is working on, said Sahi.

“There have been some 30 odd lynchings, and there appears to be a pattern in the lynchings being carried out by gaurakshaks across the country,” he said.…

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/pehlu-khan-lynching-gaurakshak-cow-vigilante-alwar/1/1076289.html

SEE ALSO:

[Back to Top]

Union minister trying to undermine Pehlu Khan murder? US, UK, India joint “probe” alleges medical manipulation (Oct 29, 2017, Counterview)

A civil society investigation by organizations working in US, UK and India has alleged that there was massive “medical manipulation” in the so-called final report and the charge-sheet filed by the police in the now famous Pehlu Khan lynching incident on April 1, underlining, this manipulation took place at the behest of a top minister in the Narendra Modi government.

The investigation report, titled “How the Police are Protecting the Murderers of Pehlu Khan”, says that the police records “betray an effort to weaken the case against the accused by challenging the finding of the post-mortem report, in a bid to prove that Khan died not of the injuries from the attack but of natural causes.”

The report has been “endorsed” by Alliance for Justice and Accountability, and Dalit American Coalition, New York; Indian American Muslim Council, Washington DC; South Asian Solidarity Group, London; Citizens for Justice and Peace, Mumbai; Human Rights Law Network, and Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association, Delhi.…

http://www.counterview.net/2017/10/union-minister-trying-to-undermine.html

SEE ALSO:

[Back to Top]

Police protecting killers of Pehlu Khan: Activists (Oct 27, 2017, The Tribune)

A group of human rights activists, including senior Supreme Court lawyers, today announced to pursue legally all barbaric attacks by cow vigilantes, including the death of Pehlu Khan. The group released an independent probe report related to the alleged killing of Khan by six cow vigilantes in Behror town of Alwar district in Rajasthan while returning to his native village in Nuh (Haryana) from Jaipur.

The other four members accompanying Khan were also injured. They were returning home after purchasing two cows from a cattle fair in Jaipur when they were attacked. The report alleged that the Rajasthan Police were protecting the accused. It did not invoke provision like attempt to murder and conspiracy against the accused.

The police submitted chargesheet against the accused to give them clean chit subsequently. It batted for closure of the case. Senior Supreme Court lawyers Indira Jaising (former Additional Solicitor General) and Prashant Bhushan, activist Teesta Setalvad and controversial JNU student leader Umar Khalid were among those who released the report in the presence of Khan’s wife and son.…

http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/haryana/police-protecting-killers-of-pehlu-khan-activists/487649.html

SEE ALSO:

[Back to Top]

Pehlu Khan’s son demands Supreme Court-monitored probe in lynching case (Oct 26, 2017, New Indian Express)

Irshad Khan, the son of dairy farmer Pehlu Khan who died after being thrashed by a mob of cow vigilantes in Rajasthan’s Alwar in April, today demanded a Supreme Court-monitored probe into the incident.

Addressing a press conference here, Irshad questioned the Rajasthan Police’s clean chit in September to the six people named by the deceased in his dying declaration and alleged that the state government “conspired” to let them go scot-free.

“I was with him (Pehlu) when the attack took place around 7 pm on April 1. These people were addressing each other by name. Even the police had reached the spot. But now it is being claimed that police got to know of the issue only around 4 am,” Irshad told reporters, his mother by his side.…

http://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2017/oct/26/pehlu-khans-son-demands-supreme-court-monitored-probe-in-lynching-case-1684033.html

SEE ALSO:

[Back to Top]

Opinions and Editorials

The Murder of Pehlu Khan – By CJP Team (Oct 26, 2017, Citizens for Justice and P)

Pehlu Khan was killed on a busy highway in Rajasthan by a mob of self-proclaimed cow protectors. Now in an exclusive investigation, senior investigative journalist Ajit Sahi has discovered that this was in fact murder. He has also found that the police sabotaged the investigation and engaged in an elaborate cover up.…

The cover began at the stage of filing the First Information Report (FIR) itself. Before Pehlu Khan died, he clearly named six men as his attackers. These men were Om Yadav, Hukum Chand Yadav, Sudhir Yadav, Jagmal Yadav, Naveen Sharma and Rahul Saini. This statement later became his ‘dying declaration’ and ought to have been accepted as such. But the police did not include these six names in the FIR. Subsequently, the police claimed that none of these men was even at the crime scene during the lynching. This virtual clean chit ensured that Pehlu’s attackers got bail despite their heinous crime.

Interestingly, according to the FIR, the attack took place between 7 pm and 10 pm on April 1. However, the FIR was registered only at 4:24 am in the wee hours of April 2. There was a delay of over 9 hours in filing an FIR when the crime scene was a mere 2 kms from the police station. The police however claim that they came to know about the attack only at 3:54 am. And this is where the police end up contradicting their own version of events.…

https://cjp.org.in/the-murder-of-pehlu-khan/

SEE ALSO:

[Back to Top]

Victims of Gautankwad: Pehlu Khan – By Deborah Grey (Oct 27, 2017, Mattersindia.com)

This is the story of Pehlu Khan who died after being assaulted by Gau Rakshaks on a national highway in Rajasthan in April 2017. Pehlu Khan fell prey to cow vigilantes or Gau Rakshaks and is therefore one of the most memorable faces of the Victims of Gautankwad or terrorism in the name of cow protection.…

Cow protection or ‘Gau Raksha’ is not a new concept in India.… However, cow vigilantism, where groups of self-proclaimed “Gau-Rakshaks” or cow protection squads go about ambushing people who transport cows, is a more extreme take on the concept of protecting cows. Over the last few years, the frequency and intensity of such attacks has increased giving birth to a violent movement that has earned the moniker Gautankwad.

…before dying, he named six of his assailants in a statement before the police. Pehlu Khan identified and named Om Yadav, Hukum Chand Yadav, Sudhir Yadav, Jagmal Yadav, Naveen Sharma and Rahul Saini as his attackers. These men had alleged links with right wing groups that in turn allegedly enjoy the support of the ruling dispensation. After his death, Pehlu Khan’s statement should have been treated as his dying declaration and accepted as the truth.…

http://mattersindia.com/2017/10/victims-of-gautankwad-pehlu-khan/

SEE ALSO:

[Back to Top]

By

More Related Posts

News Digest
By
News Digest
By
News Digest
By