“Ye makkari, ye vishvasghaat hai, hum nahi bethenge. Agar judge hi aisa kaam karega toh hum log kya karenge? (This is a betrayal of our trust, we will not take this lying down. If a judge gives such a ruling, what are we supposed to do?),” Azmat, a witness in the 2017 Pehlu Khan lynching case, told The Quint minutes after the Alwar district court acquitted all six accused in the case, on Wednesday, 14 August.
After the hearing, Azmat was forced to leave the scene with Pehlu Khan’s family. “Log ikhatta ho rahain the, aur halla kar rahain hai vahaan. Tamasha ho sakta tha toh hum nikal gaye (People were gathering and making a ruckus. There could have become a spectacle, so we left),” he said.
In the car with Azmat, Pehlu Khan’s family members sit in disbelief. Khan’s widow is not speaking. “She is in shock,” said Azmat.
In a stark contrast to this, those supporting the accused are celebrating outside the Alwar district court.
A crowd can be heard chanting, ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai,’ as the lawyer of one of the accused, Hukum Chand Sharma, said, “Ye log jo rajneetik rotiya senk rahain the, ye verdict unpe karara tamacha hai. (This is a tight slap in the face of those who were giving this case a political angle)”.
Sharma hailed the case as a “historic victory” as everyone around cheered him on.
Lawyers on both ends said that the grounds of acquittal according to the judge, Sarita Swami, was “Sandeh ka labh (the benefit of the doubt)“.
Pehlu Khan’s elder son, Irshad, is in shock, yet determined. “We will take this ahead. We will approach higher courts. We ended up losing everything while fighting this case, but we will not give up. Someone needed to be convicted. There was so much evidence,” said Irshad, as he tried to wrap his head around the court verdict.
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