Junaid lynching case: HC grants interim bail to key accused Naresh

The Punjab and Haryana High Court Wednesday granted interim bail to Naresh Kumar, the main accused in the lynching of 17-year-old Junaid Khan who was stabbed to death on a train near Ballabhgarh in June last year.

Khan, who had boarded a Mathura-bound train from Delhi on June 22 last year, was allegedly stabbed to death when the train was nearing Ballabhgarh in Haryana. He and his brothers were returning to their homes in Khandawali village after shopping in Delhi for Eid.

Khan's body was dumped near Asaoti village in Faridabad district.

A single bench of Justice Daya Chaudhary granted interim bail to Kumar, who has been accused of killing Khan, his counsel said.

"Naresh Kumar has been granted interim bail by the high court," his counsel Vishvajit Virk said.

"The court granted interim bail to him in the wake of Supreme Court's stay order on the proceedings of the case before the trial court. It has been ordered that the petitioner will continue on interim bail till final decision of the special leave petition in the Supreme Court,"he said.

Kumar had been injudicial custody since July 8, 2017.

His lawyer had argued that he has remained in jail for more than one year and should be granted interim bail.

Khan's father Jalaluddin had approached the Supreme Court with a special leave petition after the Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissed the petition filed by him seeking a CBI inquiry into lynching of his son.

Kumar is facing several charges, including murder, uttering words with deliberate intent to hurt religious feelings of a person and wrongful restraint.