This Article is From Aug 13, 2018

UP Lynching Survivor's Petition In Supreme Court Today After NDTV Expose

The top court will today take a decision on the victim's demand for a court-monitored Special Investigation Team probe and if the case can be shifted out of UP

UP Lynching Survivor's Petition In Supreme Court Today After NDTV Expose

65-year-old Samiuddin suffered multiple fractures in the attack.

New Delhi:

After taking note of an NDTV investigation in which men accused of lynching bragged on hidden camera about the killings, the Supreme Court agreed for an early hearing the petition of the man who survived the attack in Uttar Pradesh's Hapur in June. The top court will examine on Monday the victim's demand for a court-monitored Special Investigation Team probe and if the case can be shifted out of UP for a fair trial amid allegations that the police have not recorded his statement.

"My condition wasn't good... I couldn't even speak much. They said 'fine, we will take it later'. After I got out of the ICU, nobody came to take my statement," alleged 65-year-old Samiuddin, who suffered multiple fractures.

He has also demanded cancellation of the bail for the accused.

The mob attack on June 18 was caught on cellphone videos that were in wide circulation online. The video showed a 45-year-old meat trader, Qasim Qureishi, being thrashed. The crowd also beat up another man, Samiuddin, pulled his beard and shouted abuses at him for allegedly killing a cow. Qasim died soon after.

Samiuddin denied allegations of cow slaughter. He said he was a farmer, with no history of cases of cow theft or slaughter. Qasim, a meat trader, dealt in goats and buffaloes, according to his family.

The police made four arrests, including Rakesh Sisodia, the main accused. Sisodia was let off on bail days later.

NDTV travelled to Bajedha Khurd village in Hapur to meet him.

Sisodia, in a written statement to court, had said that he had no role in the attack and wasn't even present at the spot. But on hidden camera, he bragged about the crime, saying he even accepted it before jail authorities.

"Haan maine bola ki wo gaaye kaat rahe they, maine usko kaat diya... jailer ke saamne (I told the jailer that they [the victims] were slaughtering cows so I slaughtered them)," Sisodia told NDTV.

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