Haryana Additional Advocate General Naveen Kaushik, who is suspected to have assisted the counsel for the accused in the Junaid Khan murder case, resigned from the government panel of lawyers on Wednesday, The Indian Express reported. Both Advocate General Baldev Raj Mahajan and Additional Chief Secretary (Home) SS Prasad confirmed that Kaushik has stepped down.
Last week, Additional District and Sessions Judge YS Rathore, who is hearing the case in Faridabad, asked the Haryana government, the advocate general’s office and the Bar Council to take action against Kaushik. Rathore alleged that Kaushik was helping the people charged with the murder of 16-year-old Junaid Khan on board a Delhi-Mathura train on June 22.
Kaushik had earlier said that the allegation against him was a “misconception”.
Kaushik was among the first lawyers to be selected for a Haryana government panel when the Bharatiya Janata Party was voted to power in the state in 2014. He is also associated with the Bharatiya Bhasha Abhiyan and Adhivakta Parishad, an Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-affiliated advocates’ organisation. He was seen in television debates as a BJP spokesperson in the run-up to the 2014 general elections.
On June 22, Junaid Khan and three of his brothers had boarded a local train at Delhi’s Sadar Bazar Station. A fight broke out between the brothers and a few passengers over seats. The incident turned communal after a mob allegedly called the four “anti-nationals” and “beef eaters” and threw their skull caps on the floor. The 16-year-old was killed in the fight, while his brothers were hospitalised with stab wounds.
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