SC strongly condemns Bombay HC for mixing killing of the Pune IT youth with his religion

The Supreme Court came hard on the Bombay High Court in the matter where the 28-year-old Mohsin Sheikh was allegedly murdered by 3 activists of Hindu Rashtriya Sena (HRS). A bench constituting Justice S.A. Bobde and L. Nageswara Rao of the Apex court has directed the High Court to reconsider the Bail Application afresh. The court found that there was very less discussion on the merits of the bail application. Moreover, the victim belonging to a certain community cannot be a justification for an assault on him. The Court strongly condemned any murder in the name of religion and the view of the High Court wherein it had observed that it was the & lsquo fault' of the deceased that he belonged to another religion. The Bombay High Court while allowing the bail application had said that it was the & lsquo fault' of the victim that he belonged to another religion and the accused did not have any previous criminal record. Further, the High Court stated that & lsquo it seemed' that they committed the offence because of provocation. The victim, Mohsin Mohammed Sheikh was an IT professional and was working as an IT Manager in a textile firm. He was killed on 2nd June 2014 while he was returning from his prayers. The prime accused in this case were Vijay Gambhire, Ganesh Yadav and Ajay Lalge who were members of Hindu Rashtra Sena. A total of 21 activists were booked for the murder of the victim. The violence broke out after the derogatory pictures of Shivaji and Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray were posted on the social media. The leader of Hindu Rashtra Sena, Mr. Dhananjay Jayram Desai, who was one of the 21 activists booked for the killing had stated that the derogatory pictures was a cyber problem and the same could not be solved by killing innocent people.