Why in news?

All six adults accused of lynching Mr. Pehlu Khan, a farmer, have been acquitted by an Alwar court, Rajasthan that gave them the “benefit of doubt”.

What is the case about?

• In April 2017, the dairy-farmer from Nuh, Haryana, Pehlu Khan, was assaulted by cow-vigilantes while he was making his way from a cattle fair.
• The video footage of this incident went viral.
• The court did not admit the footage because it had not been forensically authenticated.
• Two years after the lynching, neither the Rajasthan police nor the prosecution that presented the video for inclusion as evidence had sought forensic verification.
• Notably, the Rajasthan police separately investigated the lynching twice.

What are the disparities in the case?

• The court order is an outcome of careless investigation in the case.
• Accusation - Khan, in his dying declaration, named six persons.
• The court said that these were not named in the complainants’ (Khan’s sons) statement to the police, as required under Section 161 of the CrPC.
• The accused were identified and charged on the basis of the video that went viral.
• However, the state police had failed to seize the device on which the viral footage was made.
• Another witness, who had shot a separate video of the lynching, turned hostile.
• In September 2017, the state police gave a clean chit to the 6 persons named by Khan in his statement before his death.
• This was on the basis of call records and statements from the employees of a cow shelter 4 kilometres from the crime spot.
• One of the six named by Khan is alleged to be the manager of the shelter.
• Doctor certificate - The police recorded Khan’s statement at the hospital to which he was taken for treatment.
• But no certificate was obtained from the doctors in charge to show that Khan was in a condition to give the statement.
• Record - The investigating officer presented the recorded statement at the police station 16 hours later, which is a serious lapse.
• Cause of death - The Behror Community Health Centre’s post-mortem report suggests that the assault was the cause of death.
• However, the doctors at Kailash Hospital, where Khan was taken for treatment, told the police that the cause of death was heart attack.
• The Rajasthan police also registered charges of homicide against the accused only after public outcry over the lynching.
• Charges - Meanwhile, of the seven FIRs registered in the case, six are under the Rajasthan cow-protection law.
• And Khan’s sons and others have been named for transporting cows illegally, despite submission of documents showing that the transport was legal.
• One of those named by Khan was caught in a sting, admitting to have seriously assaulted Khan over a period of one-and-a-half hours.
• In all, the case brings to light many inconsistencies in the investigation process.