Supreme Court Inquires About Kanhaiya Lal Amid Plea Over Lynchings

The accused, Riyaz Akhtari and Ghouse Mohammad, were arrested within hours of the incident. A bench of Justice BR Gavai, Justice Aravind Kumar, and Justice Sandeep Mehta referred to the Kanhaiya Lal murder and asked petitioning lawyers to not be selective when presenting such cases.

The court questioned the absence of mention regarding the lynching of Kanhaiya Lal in Rajasthan and emphasized the importance of considering cases from all states without being selective. Kanhaiya Lal was allegedly killed after sharing a social media post in support of Nupur Sharma, an ex Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson who made remarks about Prophet Mohammad.

The counsel for the state of Gujarat stated that the PIL was specifically highlighting the lynching of Muslims only, to which senior advocate Archana Pathak Dave argued that the State must protect people of all communities, and mob lynching should not be selective. Advocate Pasha countered by stating that only Muslims were being lynched, leading Justice Gavai to caution about the submissions made to the court.

The matter was postponed after the summer vacation, during which the court sought responses from the center and six states – Maharashtra, Odisha, Bihar, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh – to the PIL filed by the women’s wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). The court noted that only Haryana and Madhya Pradesh had filed responses regarding action taken, and gave the other states six weeks to file their statements.

During the hearing, Justice Aravind Kumar inquired about the killing of Kanhaiya Lal, highlighting the importance of considering and addressing cases from all parts of the country.