Day 7 Arguments
Cow VigilantismAugust 20th 2018
The three-judge Bench started hearing the implementation of its guidelines against mob lynching. On July 17th, the Court had issued a slew of guidelines including framing of special law against lynching and appointing a nodal police officer in all districts to deal with lynching incidents.
Today, the court was also hearing a contempt petition filed by Mr. Tushar Gandhi and Mr. Tehseen Poonawalla against the State of Rajasthan for the lynching incident on July 20th. Rakbar Khan was allegedly beaten by cow vigilantes in Alwar district when he was leading two cows from his village to his home in Haryana.
Ms. Indira Jaising appearing for Mr. Tushar Gandhi argued that the lynching incident which killed Rakbar Khan took place days after the court issued strict guidelines against lynching; the State Government admitted in affidavit that police committed ‘error’ in not taking the victim to a hospital. She sought personal appearance of Chief Secretary of Rajasthan in the contempt matter.
The Bench asked the Rajasthan Government to submit a compliance report while detailing the specific actions taken in the Alwar lynching incident. The court listed the contempt matter for August 30th.
The Court also directed all the State Governments to submit a compliance report, as stipulated by the July 17th guidelines. The next hearing on state wise implementation of guidelines will be on September 7th 2018