The Bombay High Court adjourned the hearing into a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the Palghar mob lynching case till June 5.
The PIL was filed by a Supreme Court lawyer Alakh Alok Srivastava. A Division Bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice SS Shinde adjourned the case after Maharashtra in a sealed envelope perused two investigation reports into the case.
On April 16, two Hindu priests and their driver were lynched by a large mob near Gadchinchle village in Palghar in the presence of police officials, which had seen key officers being transferred or suspended. The investigation which was handed over to the state Criminal Investigation Department (CID) till now has seen 148 people including minors being arrested for the murder.
The PIL states that the three victims who were travelling to Surat were stopped by police and asked to take a detour, and stated that police personnel who were present at the spot did nothing to save the victims, and has stated that there was an allegation of a police personnel having pushed a priest towards the mob as well.
The petition had prayed that in the interest of justice, a free and fair investigation should be conducted in the case under the monitoring of the Court. The petition also sought the investigation be done by an independent agency than those subservient to Maharashtra government as there are serious allegations of commission and omission on the part of the local police personnel themselves. The Bombay High Court in the last hearing had given the state two weeks to file a reply.
