Kanhaiya Lal murder: Rajasthan High Court keeps terror charges against accused

The Rajasthan High Court has refused to drop charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), India’s main anti-terror law, against the accused in the murder of Udaipur tailor Kanhaiya Lal, The Indian Express reported on 7 November. The court observed that the “absence of direct evidence… cannot be decisive”.

The ruling means the accused will continue to be tried under the anti-terror law, which carries harsher punishments and makes bail much harder to get than ordinary criminal law. A conspiracy, the court’s reasoning suggests, can be proved from the circumstances even where no witness saw a particular accused take part.

The High Court has taken the same line before. In October, a Division Bench of Chief Justice Sanjay K. Agrawal and Justice Sameer Jain refused bail to five accused, holding that the charges of conspiracy against them were prima facie true. Under the UAPA, bail must be refused when the court finds reasonable grounds to believe that the accusation is prima facie true.

The background

On 28 June 2022, Kanhaiya Lal was hacked to death in his shop in Udaipur by two men who filmed the attack and posted videos online, saying it was revenge for his alleged social media post supporting remarks about the Prophet made by a BJP spokesperson. The killing caused communal tension across Rajasthan. The National Investigation Agency took over the case and invoked the UAPA, alleging a wider conspiracy. The trial is being held in a special NIA court in Jaipur.

What’s next

The trial continues in the special court. The accused can challenge the High Court’s order in the Supreme Court.