Nuh Violence: Congress MLA moves Punjab and Haryana High Court for SIT probe; learns during hearing he is also an accused

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Thursday issued notice to the Haryana government on a petition seeking constitution of a high-level Special Investigation (SIT) to probe the cases related to recent communal violence in Nuh district [Mamman Khan vs State of Haryana and Others]. .Justice Vikas Bahl sought the State government’s response to the petition filed by Congress MLA Mamman Khan who interestingly came to know, during the course of the hearing, that he has also been made an accused in one of the violence-related cases.Khan, therefore, also sought protection against coercive steps. During the hearing, Senior Advocate RS Cheema, representing Khan, requested the Court that he be given the liberty to seek appropriate remedy for the protection of his liberty. The request was allowed. .Khan also pressed his primary prayer with respect to the constitution of the SIT consisting of officers not below the rank of the Inspector General of Police.The Court issued notice on the same and posted the case for further consideration on October 19. "Notice of motion with respect to the limited prayer made by learned Senior Counsel for the petitioner. Liberty is granted to the petitioner to seek appropriate remedy for protection of liberty in accordance with law," the order said..Earlier, Additional Advocate General (AAG) Deepak Sabharwal informed the Court that in the first information report (FIR) registered under Sections 148, 149, 153-A, 379-A, 436, 506 of Indian Penal Code at Police Station Nagina, 53 persons have been made accused and 42 have been arrested. The Court was told that a co-accused Taufiq has named the petitioner, Khan as one of the accused and that during the investigation, it was found that Khan and Taufiq had exchanged calls one day prior to the incident in question. It was also submitted that Khan was within 1.5 km from the place of occurrence on the relevant dates.The AAG also submitted that Khan had posted a message on WhatsApp and Facebook that “nobody needs to worry as the petitioner had fought for them in the Vidhan Sabha and will fight for them in Mewat also.".It was also submitted that Khan had been issued notice on August 25 to appear before the police on August 31 but he had sought 10 days' time to join the investigation. Since he had failed to join the investigation, he was made an accused on September 4 after considering relevant material, the Court was told.The State also said that the particular FIR was being investigated by an SIT composed of Deputy Superintendent of Police Satish Kumar, Station House Officer Nagina and Sub-Inspector Varinder under the direct supervision of the Superintendent of Police of Nuh.The Inspector General of Police, South Range, Rewari would monitor the investigation and would seek weekly updates, AAG Sabhwaral said. He added that the investigation is being done fairly and at a good pace and that there is now peace in the District of Nuh.Senior Advocate RS Cheema and advocates Arshdeep Singh Cheema and Satish Sharma represented the petitioner.Additional Advocate General Deepak Sabharwal represented the State..[Read Order]