 "Alwar lynching case: District court convicts 4 out of 5; sentences to 7 yrs")
In Alwar, Rajasthan, a district court reached a verdict on Thursday, finding four out of the five men accused of lynching Rakbar Khan in 2018 guilty, while the fifth accused was acquitted.
The convicted individuals, namely Dharmendra Yadav, Paramjeet, Vijay Kumar, and Naresh Kumar were found guilty of culpable homicide and wrongful restraint. They have been sentenced to seven years imprisonment. The acquittal of the fifth accused, Nawal Kishore, was based on insufficient evidence, as reported by NDTV. Nawal Kishore is reported to be a local leader of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.
Rakbar's wife expressed her dissatisfaction with the judgment and the given sentence in an interview with the Indian Express. Asmina stated that this was not justice and that a seven-year sentence was too short for a murder. Adding that Kishore was the main accused and had been acquitted.
Ashok Sharma, the special public prosecutor, expressed his contentment with the convictions but believed the sentence was insufficient.
Nasir Ali Naqvi, another special public prosecutor involved in the case, mentioned that he plans to write to the government to appeal the case in the high court. Naqvi stated that the accused should have been convicted under IPC 302 (murder) as well. Moreover, Kishore had been acquitted despite being identified in court by the other victim, Aslam Khan, who was with Rakbar the day of the attack but managed to escape.
History of the case
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From July 20 to 21 in 2018, Rakbar, a dairy farmer, and Aslam Khan were walking on foot with cows towards their village, Kolgaon in Haryana. During their trek, they were attacked by villagers in Lalwandi, under the jurisdiction of Ramgarh Police Station in Alwar. Aslam managed to escape, but Rakbar was brutally beaten to death.
One of the accused, Nawal Kishore claims that he immediately informed the police upon reaching the crime scene. According to his account, some local youths contacted him after midnight. Since his phone was on silent mode, they called his nephew, who woke him up and informed him that locals had apprehended a cow smuggler and requested him to call the police, according to the media report.
Subsequently, Kishore placed a call to the police at approximately 12:41 am. Living in close proximity to the police station, he reached there within five minutes and waited for about five to ten minutes for the police jeep before proceeding to the crime scene.
Upon arriving at the scene around 1.15-1.20 am, Kishore discovered Rakbar Khan lying in the mud, with two cows tied to a nearby tree. He stated that some villagers had fled upon seeing the police jeep.
Initially, the First Information Report (FIR) listed Dharmendra Yadav, Paramjeet Singh, Naresh Sharma, and Vijay Kumar as the accused, and they were subsequently arrested. However, the investigation against Sharma was kept pending under Section 173 (8) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
The role of the police on the night of the attack has also been subject to scrutiny, particularly due to the circulation of a photograph showing Rakbar sitting in a police vehicle that became viral in 2018.