ALWAR/JAIPUR: The Juvenile Justice Board in Alwar convicted on Thursday the two minors accused of participating in the mob lynching of Pehlu Khan in 2017. The quantum of punishment is likely to be pronounced on Saturday.

On Thursday, the board had asked the two accused if they had anything to say in their defence in case they were found guilty, following which they were convicted.

Pehlu Khan (55), a dairy farmer from Nuh district of Haryana, his two sons and some others were intercepted and attacked by cow vigilantes near Behror on April 1, 2017. Pehlu succumbed to his injuries on April 4 in a private hospital in Alwar. Seven cases had been registered — one against Pehlu and his sons for transporting cattle and the other cases against the mob which lynched him. There were a total of nine accused in the case, including the two minors.

A chargesheet against five of the accused was submitted before the trial court on May 31, 2017 while the chargesheet against one more was submitted in January 2019. Another chargesheet was submitted in the matter in May 2019; this one named Pehlu and his two sons as well though the deceased’s name was later dropped.

The seventh person had claimed to be a minor but the JJB found him to be an adult. His trial is still underway in a Behror court.

On August 14, 2019, a trial court in Alwar had acquitted the six people accused of lynching Pehlu Khan while he and a few others were transporting cows from Jaipur. The trial court had given the benefit of the doubt to the accused citing a botched investigation by the Alwar police and saying the prosecution had failed to furnish key documents in court to prove the charges.

The acquittal had created a hue and cry following which the state government formed an SIT and decided to appeal the decision. The government had designated additional advocate general R P Singh as the law officer to pursue the matter before the high court.

The SIT was constituted under the supervision of the state’s ADGP (crime). It was to identify lapses in investigation and fix responsibility on individual officers who had conducted the probe. The SIT later pinpointed many serious lapses in investigation. In October 2019, the Rajasthan high court received two petitions, one from Pehlu’s family and another by the state government, against the acquittal of the accused. In the same month the HC ordered the quashing of the FIR and the chargesheet filed against Pehlu Khan, his two sons and the vehicle driver on grounds of “abuse of law”.

