Justice DY Chandrachud, on Saturday said that one of the ‘biggest torments’ of being a judge is that one has to decide on the basis of evidence. Justice Chandrachud was opining on the 2017 Alwar lynching case where all six accused were recently acquitted by a Rajasthan court.
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“I tell you this is one of the great torments of being a judge because you’ve to decide on basis of evidence, as it stands and then you find that police investigation has been so woefully inadequate that it’s going to result in acquittal,” he said on the sidelines of Literature Live Independence Day lecture in Mumbai yesterday. He even added how court monitored investigation at times have resulted in better outcomes.
A native of Haryana’s Nuh, the 55-year old Pehlu Khan and his sons were allegedly accosted by a bunch of people on the suspicion that they smuggled cattle to neighbouring states for slaughter. The mob lynched Pehlu Khan with rods and sticks on April 1, 2017, two days after which Khan died of the injuries. Media perception had already decided the accused were guilty. The accused, however, were acquitted for ‘benefit of doubt’ after the court found lapses in police investigation.