10 people get life term in 2018 Hapur mob-lynching case

Hapur, March 12

A local court here on Tuesday convicted all 10 people accused in the 2018 mob lynching case and sentenced them to life imprisonment.

The court of Additional District Judge (POCSO) Shweta Dixit, after hearing both the parties, convicted 10 people of killing 45-year-old Qasim and assaulting Samaydeen (62) on a false rumour of cow slaughter.

According to government counsel Vijay Chauhan, the court also imposed a fine of Rs 58,000 each on Rakesh, Hari Om, Yudhishthir, Rinku, Karanpal, Manish, Lalit, Sonu, Kaptan and Mangeram of Dhaulana’s Bajhaida village.

The prosecution argued that the victim’s side does not have any enmity against the accused and only seeks justice. They had also requested the court not to give death sentence to the convicts.

In June 2018, a mob had lynched Qasim, a resident of Bajhaida village, accusing him of slaughtering a banned animal. Samaydeen was also assaulted on a false rumour of cow slaughter, but he survived.

The police registered a false FIR giving the incident a motorcycle accident angle but after Samaydeen moved the Supreme Court, the investigation was brought on track, Chauhan said.

Samaydeen had filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court in 2018 and the court had directed provision of security and recording of statement under Section 164 of the CrPC, and directed the IG (Meerut Zone) to supervise the investigation.