The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Rajasthan government to explain whether and how Shambhulal Regar, accused of killing a Muslim labourer last year, uploaded videos online from the Jodhpur jail, reported Live Law.
A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and MR Shah also issued a notice to Regar to ask for a response on a plea filed by the labourer’s wife, seeking his transfer to the Tihar jail in Delhi, reported ANI.
The Supreme Court was hearing a petition filed by Gulbahar Bibi, the wife of Mohammad Afrazul, who was allegedly killed by Regar in Rajsamand in December 2017. Bibi in her plea sought an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation into her husband’s murder and said an alleged hate video Regar had uploaded on social media in February.
Advocate Indira Jaising, appearing for Bibi, said that Regar had allegedly continued to upload such video content on the internet. The counsel for Rajasthan argued that the videos had been taken down.
The bench asked the state government’s counsel to check if the videos allegedly uploaded by Regar were still available online. The matter has been posted for further hearing on January 21.
Regar had allegedly attacked Afrazul on camera and set his body on fire on December 6 last year. He claimed he had killed the man to save a woman from “love jihad”, a term often used by Hindutva groups to accuse Muslim men of entrapping Hindu women on the pretext of love in order to eventually convert them to Islam.
Afrazul was a 48-year-old labourer who had migrated from Malda district of West Bengal. Regar’s nephew was detained for allegedly shooting videos of the incident. In September, the Uttar Pradesh Navnirman Sena said it will field Regar from the Agra seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
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