Supreme Court stays trial, seeks CBI reply in Junaid case

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the trial into the Ballabhgarh station near the capital in the mob lynching case in which 17-year-old Junaid Khan was stabbed to death on a train in June last year.

The SC bench stayed the trial on a special leave petition, filed by Junaid’s father Jallulu-ddin seeking a CBI pro-be into the attack and killing of his son.

Junaid’s father has challenged the Punjab and Haryana HC’s November 27 order, refusing a CBI probe, and sought that the the high court held that there was no “substance” in the petitioner’s plea to indicate that the investigation was tainted or shoddy.

While stating that there appeared to be no deliberate attempt to derail the investigation in the case since it did not have any “national or international ramifications”, the high court further held that the case did merit an exercise of extraordinary power to entrust the investigation to the CBI.

Assailing the verdict, the petitioner said the necessity of transferring the investigation to the CBI is imminent due to the poor investigation carried out by the police.

He also demanded a stay on the trial in a Faridabad court in connection with the killing of Junaid. He said if the trial was held in Faridabad, there was a possibility of miscarriage of justice and the accused going scot-free.  

Junaid, who had boarded a Mathura-bound train from Delhi, was allegedly stabbed to death when he, along with his brothers and cousins, was returning home to Khandawali village after shopping for Id in Delhi on June 22, 2017. His body was dumped near Asaoti village in Faridabad district.