Junaid Khan stabbing: Punjab and Haryana HC stays trial court proceedings

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday stayed the trial court proceedings in the lynching of 17-year-old Junaid Khan, who was stabbed to death on a train in June. Acting on the petition filled by Junaid’s family, a division bench of the High Court also issued a notice of motion to the Haryana government and the CBI.

“The High Court stayed the trial proceedings of the court in Faridabad,” said Arshdeep Singh Cheema, the counsel for Khan's father Jalaluddin while adding that the upper court had overruled the lower court’s order in which single bench of the High Court had dismissed Junaid father’s demand for CBI probe.

The plea for a CBI probe into the killing of Junaid Khan came up for hearing before the division bench comprising Justices Mahesh Grover and Raj Shekhar Attri.

Khan's father had last week challenged the November 27 judgement of a single bench judge that had dismissed the petition.

The High Court single bench had said, “During the course of the hearing, the complainant has not been able to show that there are serious flaws in the investigation, which would lead to the conclusion that the same is shoddy or tainted.

“Besides, there is nothing to show that the incident has any national or international ramifications. It is, thus, not a fit case to exercise extraordinary power to hand over the investigation to the CBI,” the High Court single bench had said.

While seeking a probe by the CBI, the appeal filed through advocate Cheema mentions “the true nature of the crime has been subjected to a cover-up.

The conduct of the named accused and others as a lynching mob has been concealed. It has been projected as if the occurrence was sudden without any element of perpetrators having acted as in conspiracy or an unlawful assembly”.

The case will now come up for hearing on January 11, Cheema said.

Jalaluddin, through his counsel, had earlier filed the petition on October 26, seeking a probe by an independent agency, such as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), in the lynching case.

The petitioner had also demanded a stay on the trial in a Faridabad court. Khan, who had boarded a Mathura-bound train from Delhi, was allegedly stabbed to death when he, along with his brothers and cousins, was returning home to Khandawali village after shopping for Eid in Delhi in June.

His body was dumped near Asaoti village in Faridabad district.