The Supreme Court has asked the Rajasthan government to explain as to how some videos of hate speech were uploaded on the Internet from Jodhpur jail premises by Shambhu Lal Raigar, who is accused of hacking and burning alive a Muslim labourer from West Bengal.
The top court also sought response from Raigar as to why he should not be transferred to Delhi’s Tihar jail or any other jail out of Rajasthan.
“Issue notice to the newly added respondent (Raigar), returnable on January 21, 2019. In the meantime, the State of Rajasthan shall file its counter affidavit to these proceedings. The State shall, in particular, explain whether a video was uploaded from within the jail premises by the newly added respondent and, if so, how that was possible,” said a Bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and M.R. Shah.
Senior advocate Indira Jaising, appearing for Gulbahar Bibi, wife of the victim who was allegedly killed by Raigar in on December 6 last year, said that the accused has been continuously uploading videos of hate speech on the Internet and should be transferred to Tihar jail or any other prison outside the state.
Counsel appearing for Rajasthan said she has recently checked and found that such videos have been taken down by Internet service providers.
Ms. Jaising however refuted the claims and said that videos were very much available on the Net.
The Bench then asked the counsel for Rajasthan to verify whether the videos uploaded by Raigar from the jail were still available on the Internet and posted the matter for further hearing on January 21.
The apex court had on April 2 sought response from the CBI and the Rajasthan government on a plea seeking transfer of Raigar to Tihar jail.
Gulbahar Bibi said the prime accused had recently uploaded videos on social networking sites.
Independent probe
The apex court had on February 16 directed the CBI to seek instructions on a plea of the widow seeking an independent probe into the murder.
It had asked the lawyer appearing for the agency to take appropriate instructions on conducting the probe and providing of adequate compensation sought by the petitioner.
