india

Updated: Oct 18, 2019 00:01 IST

Jaipur: The Rajasthan government has filed an appeal in the high court against the acquittal of all the accused in the Pehlu Khan lynching case, a government official familiar with the matter said.

On April 1, 2017, Khan was attacked by a mob on the Delhi-Jaipur highway near Behror in Rajasthan’s Alwar district while he was transporting cattle from a market in Jaipur to his home in Haryana’s Nuh. He had named six people as his attackers in his dying declaration. On August 14, Alwar additional district judge acquitted the six accused in the case and gave them the “benefit of doubt”.

“Three days back that is on October 14, an appeal was filed by the state government [against the court judgment],” said RP Singh, additional advocate general.

Khan’s family has filed a separate appeal in the Rajasthan high court against the lower court’s verdict. “The appeal was filed on October 3,” said Irshad, elder son of Pehlu Khan.

On August 17, the state government set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to look into the reasons behind the accused’s acquittal. The SIT in its 84-page report pointed multiple lapses in the police probe and blamed officers for a “shoddy” investigation.

The SIT in its report cited multiple lapses in the police probe and blamed officers for a “shoddy” investigation. The 82-page report pointed out loopholes by each of the four investigating officers.