Allahabad High Court: Every Incident Of Mob Lynching Can't Be Dealt In PIL; Aggrieved Should Approach Govt. First

The Allahabad High Court has stated that the directives of the Supreme Court in Tehseen S. Poonawalla are binding of all States and Central Govt. and aggrieved party should approach the government first before rushing to Courts.

The Court was considering a Writ Petition seeking formation of Special Investigation Team and handing over of the case registered under Sections 191(2), 191(3),190, *100,5308(5), 310(2), 3(5) of B.N.S., 2023 to it or any other impartial and independent investigating agency.

The division bench of Justice Siddharth and Justice Avnish Saxena observed, "...the judgement of the Apex Court in the Tehseen S. Poonawalla (Supra) is binding upon the State Government as well as the Central Government. 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. Every incident of mob lynching/ mob violence is a separate incident and it cannot be monitored in a public interest litigation."

The Petitioner was represented by Advocate Raza Abbas while the Respondent was represented by Additional Solicitor General of India.

It was stated that the matter is extremely urgent and the Police is not conducting the fair and impartial investigation in First Information Report and the Respondents have not provided any financial assistance or aid to the victims of the mob violence and they need it urgently. The incident happened in Aligarh district in which atleast four persons belonging to Muslim community were brutally beaten by public only on the suspicion of carrying cow meat. To discuss this incident and also the incidents of mob lynching and mob violence frequently reported in different districts of State of Uttar Pradesh in recent years, a meeting of Jamiat Ulama, a State unit of Jamiat Ulma E Hind (Arshad Madani) Public Trust., Lucknow, was called on in its office and after due deliberation, Petitioner No. 2 was authorized to file a Petition in the Allahabad High Court in order to secure justice for the victims and their family.

It was averred that in compliance of guidelines contained in the Supreme Court's Judgment dated September 17, 2018, the Central Government as well as the State Governments have failed to effectively control the monster of mob lynching and mob-violence. The cases of hate speeches, cow related violence, cultural hegemony, circulation of misinformation through social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp and X platform are at rise.

It was thus averred that in such cases of mob-lynching/mob-violence the state respondents have failed to act upon the Supreme Court's guidelines to look into the 'Preventive Measures' and the Senior Superintendent of Police, Aligarh as well as the Station House Officer of Police Station Harduaganj are liable to be proceeded against in terms of the Court's guidelines contained in Para 40(C) of Judgment.

The Supreme Court Court in the matter of Tahseen S. Poonawal v/s Union of India and others. (2018) 9 SCC 501 has laid down the guidelines for the Government of India and the state governments in order to ensure effective and professional investigation to prevent the incidents of mob lynching (including mob violence) and to provide adequate compensation to the victim and his family.

The Court was of the view that all the reliefs prayed in the writ petition are in accordance with the dictum of the Apex Court in the case of Tehseen S. Poonawalla(Supra).

The Writ Petition was accordingly allowed.

Cause Title: Jamiat Ulma E Hind (Arshad Madani) Public Trust And Another vs. Union Of India And 5 Others (2025:AHC:113314-DB)

Appearances:

Petitioner- Advocate Raza Abbas, Advocate Syed Ali Murtaza

Respondent- Additional Solicitor General of India, Government Advocate, Advocate R.P.S. Chouhan

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