NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday termed the video of a Muslim man being hacked and burnt alive as “horrendous”. A Muslim labourer hailing from West Bengal was killed on video in Rajasthan’s Rajsamand district on December 6 last year.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud was inclined to issue notice on the plea filed by Gulbahar Bibi, wife of 50-year-old deceased Mohammed Bhatta Sheikh, seeking an impartial SIT probe into the dastardly murder.
‘Horrendous’ visuals
“The video is horrendous,” the bench said, adding it was willing to consider the plea and issue appropriate directions.
The top court, however, said the petition was poorly drafted and asked senior advocate Indira Jaising, representing the wife of the slain labourer, to file a better plea and fixed January 29 as the next date of hearing.
Jaising said the video has already been seen by millions of people and a direction be issued to the Centre and the state government to ensure that it was not circulated further and withdrawn from the internet.
She also said the victims be granted their fundamental right to access to justice, as “unruly crowd has been attempting to stall the judicial process to favour the accused.”
ALSO READ: Afrazul Killing: Shambulal charge sheeted for turning his illicit affair into ‘Love Jihad’
Jaising said “unruly crowd” rush to the trial court during the proceedings in the case in support of the accused, Shambhu Lal Regar, leading to denial of access to justice to the victims.
48-year-old Mohammad Afrazul , hailing from West Bengal, was allegedly hacked and burnt alive on December 6 last year and the murder was recorded on camera by the 14-year-old nephew of Shambhulal . The accused is now in judicial custody.
Regar, after killing Afrazul was seen on a video keeping up an inflammatory communal ranting that he did it to stop Love Jihad, a term publicised to refer to Muslim men marrying Hindu women.
In the stomach-turning video, later uploaded on social media, the accused, in a red shirt, white trousers and a white muffler, is seen threatening on camera and saying “Those who will commit love jihad will meet with the same fate”.
PTI inputs