BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court directed the state government to formulate a scheme for the grant of interim compensation to victims or their next of kin in mob lynching cases within three months. This is one of the many directions issued by the high court while reiterating the procedure and guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court in the Tehseen S Ponnawalla case for trial courts to follow in mob lynching cases.
Justice Vijaykumar A Patil passed the order while dismissing the petitions filed by Abdul Jabbar from Kerala, next of kin of a victim of mob lynching/violence, and the state government, questioning the bail granted to the accused, Sachin and others, in the case by a trial court in Mangaluru in 2025.
The case pertains to the crime registered with the Mangaluru Rural police station in connection with the death of one Ashraf, who succumbed to injuries after he was allegedly attacked by the accused and the gathering during a cricket match on April 27, 2025, for allegedly raising pro-Pakistan slogans.
The counsel for the petitioner argued that as per the guidelines issued by the Supreme Court in the case of Tehseen S Poonawalla, the victim(s) or the next of kin of the deceased in cases of mob lynching shall be given timely notice of any court proceedings and the same shall be heard at the trial in respect to bail, discharge, release and parole filed by the accused. But, in this case, no notice was issued to the next of kin of the deceased which vitiates the order granting bail, he argued.
The counsel also argued that the Supreme Court also directed state governments to prepare a lynching/mob violence victim compensation scheme and also provide interim relief to victims or their next of kin. However, in this case, no scheme for interim compensation has been formulated by the state government, he argued.
The court noted that in this case, the trial court committed a grave error in failing to issue timely notice to the next of kin of the deceased and failed to provide an opportunity to object to the bail application.
However, the court is not inclined to set aside the order granting bail as the accused is not required for custodial investigation, as the charge sheet is already filed.
