HC seeks Maha govt's reply on plea of lynching victim's father for compensation

The Bombay High Court Wednesday asked the Maharashtra government to respond to a plea, filed by the father of a 24-year-old man who was lynched by a mob in Pune in 2014, demanding compensation.

Sadiq Sheikh has sought Rs 10 lakh (Rs 5 lakh each from the Union government and the state) under a scheme which offers compensation to victims of communal violence.

His son Mohsin, who was working with an IT firm in Pune, was beaten to death by a mob on June 2, 2014.

There was communal tension in Pune's Hadapsar area after morphed photos of late Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj were circulated on social media.

Mohsin and his friend were stopped by the mob when they were returning home. While his friend escaped, Mohsin was lynched.

Police later arrested several members of right-wing group Hindu Rashtra Sena for the alleged murder.

Twenty-three members of the group including its head Dhananjay Desai were named in a charge sheet. The trial in the case is still on.

Sheikh's petition came up for hearing before a division bench of Chief Justice N H Patil and Justice M S Karnik which asked the state government to file its reply by Thursday.