The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the Allahabad High Court order granting bail to one of the main accused in the December 2018 Bulandshahar mob lynching case in which a police officer was killed following protests over cow slaughter.
A bench of Justices S K Kaul and M M Sundresh asked accused Yogeshraj to surrender within seven days.
“The matter is quite serious where under the pretext of the cow slaughter, a police officer has been lynched. Prima facie, it is a case of people taking law into their own hand. We are of the view that Yogeshraj should be asked to surrender within a period of seven days from today and thus to that extent, the impugned orders granting him bail are stayed”, the bench ordered.
In December 2018, Inspector Singh and a local youth Sumit Kumar were killed in mob violence near Siyana village, Bulandshahr district during protests against alleged cow slaughter.
The bench was hearing a plea by Rajni Singh, wife of the deceased police officer, Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh, against the 2019 Allahabad HC order. The accused was granted bail in Section 124 A (sedition) and had earlier been given bail in other sections, including 120 B (conspiracy), 147 (rioting) among others.
Appearing for the petitioner, senior advocate Sanjay Hegde said the accused after being released on bail, had contested elections and had been booked for allegedly threatening to kill someone who did not vote for him. He also pointed out that charges were yet to be framed in the case.
The counsel appearing for Yogeshraj said there is no specific allegation against him of lynching the deceased inspector.
“My whole role was that I was protesting for only the cow slaughtering alone. It is not their case also”, he told the bench which however pointed out that the state of Uttar Pradesh in its counter affidavit had said that it was a case of mob lynching.
Adjourning the hearing by three weeks, the SC also called for a report from the trial court in Bulandshahr — where the trial in the case is pending — “as to how much time do they need to frame the charges and to record the testimonies of the independent witnesses”.
The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the Allahabad High Court order granting bail to one of the main accused in the December 2018 Bulandshahar mob lynching case in which a police officer was killed following protests over cow slaughter. A bench of Justices S K Kaul and M M Sundresh asked accused Yogeshraj to surrender within seven days. “The matter is quite serious where under the pretext of the cow slaughter, a police officer has been lynched. Prima facie, it is a case of people taking law into their own hand. We are of the view that Yogeshraj should be asked to surrender within a period of seven days from today and thus to that extent, the impugned orders granting him bail are stayed”, the bench ordered. In December 2018, Inspector Singh and a local youth Sumit Kumar were killed in mob violence near Siyana village, Bulandshahr district during protests against alleged cow slaughter. The bench was hearing a plea by Rajni Singh, wife of the deceased police officer, Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh, against the 2019 Allahabad HC order. The accused was granted bail in Section 124 A (sedition) and had earlier been given bail in other sections, including 120 B (conspiracy), 147 (rioting) among others. Appearing for the petitioner, senior advocate Sanjay Hegde said the accused after being released on bail, had contested elections and had been booked for allegedly threatening to kill someone who did not vote for him. He also pointed out that charges were yet to be framed in the case. The counsel appearing for Yogeshraj said there is no specific allegation against him of lynching the deceased inspector. “My whole role was that I was protesting for only the cow slaughtering alone. It is not their case also”, he told the bench which however pointed out that the state of Uttar Pradesh in its counter affidavit had said that it was a case of mob lynching. Adjourning the hearing by three weeks, the SC also called for a report from the trial court in Bulandshahr — where the trial in the case is pending — “as to how much time do they need to frame the charges and to record the testimonies of the independent witnesses”.