Prayagraj, Jul 25 (PTI) The Allahabad High Court has observed that each incident of mob lynching or mob violence is a separate incident and cannot be monitored in a public interest litigation (PIL).
A bench of Justices Siddharth and Avnish Saxena was hearing a PIL filed by Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind seeking compliance of apex court’s guidelines for checking incidents of mob lynching.
Disposing of the PIL, the bench said that the judgement of the apex court in the Tehseen S. Poonawalla Vs Union of India (2018) is binding upon the state government as well as the central government.
“Therefore, it is always open for the aggrieved party to approach the government first before rushing to this court seeking compliance of the judgement of apex court,” it added.
In the PIL, the petitioner had sought extensive directions concerning the implementation of the apex court’s binding guidelines in the case of Tehseen Poonawalla.
In the PIL, specific incidents of mob lynching and mob violence in Uttar Pradesh, including one in May in Aligarh, were referred.
The petitioner had sought setting up of a special investigation team (SIT) headed by an inspector general-rank officer to investigate the mob violence incident in Aligarh, the notification and circular related to the appointment of nodal officers in each district dealing with mob lynching cases, along with a status report on such cases.
Counsel for the state government opposed the maintainability of the PIL.
In its judgment passed on July 15, the court said that although the reliefs prayed in the PIL were consistent with the apex court’s guidelines in Tehseen Poonawalla case, they could not be granted through a PIL seeking general oversight over individual incidents.
The court, however, noted that the affected parties have the liberty to first approach the appropriate government authority for the implementation of the apex court’s directions. PTI COR RAJ ZMN
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