SC agrees to hear contempt plea in Alwar lynching case

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a contempt plea against the Rajasthan government for violating court directives in a mob lynching case in Alwar district last week.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said the plea would be heard on August 20, along with the main case by petitioner Tehsheen Poonawala.

Advocate Deepali Dwivedi, appearing for Poonawala, mentioned the Alwar lynching case before the bench seeking initiation of contempt of court proceedings against the Rajasthan government.

The central and state governments have come under a sharp criticism from the Supreme Court over frequent lynching incidents across the country.

The court had condemned the mob lynching incidents and suggested enactment of a law in Parliament to deal with the crime that threatens rule of law and the country's social fabric.

"Horrendous acts of mobocracy" cannot be permitted to become "a new normal", it had said, while issuing a slew of guidelines, including preventive, remedial and punitive steps to deal with offences such as mob violence and cow vigilantism.

A 28-year-old man was beaten to death by suspected cow vigilantes in Alwar district late on Friday. Two persons have been arrested so far.

Some villagers caught and beat up Akbar Khan, suspecting him to be a cow smuggler.

Khan, a resident of Mewat in Rajasthan, was transporting the animals to his village along with another man when they were stopped by a group of villagers near Lalawandi village.

Alwar has earlier witnessed similar attacks in the name of cow protectionism. The latest killing comes more than a year after Pehlu Khan was murdered allegedly by some cow vigilantes in April 2017.

--IANS

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