By CJP Team 

The move by the Uttar Pradesh government on October 25, 2025, to withdraw prosecutions in the lynching of Mohammad Akhlaq – a case that shook the public conscience of India 10 years prior – represents a key turning point in the continuing evolution of society from outrage over violence to acceptance of the status quo. Mohammad Akhlaq was brutally murdered inside his own home in Bisada (Dadri) in 2015, and this incident became an example of growing intolerance within Indian society, causing artists and intellectuals across the country to return awards given by the state. The international community began to take notice of the trends toward mob vigilantism in India. However, it appears that, after 10 years, the state that was responsible for seeking justice for Mohammad Akhlaq and his family is instead burying the very case that led to the beginning of a moral awakening across the country.

The Uttar Pradesh government claims to have only applied to withdraw the prosecution against Mohammad Akhlaq’s killers and that this request will be decided by a judge at the next hearing scheduled for December 12, 2025. However, when viewed through the lens of the history of this case, the timeline for this case, and the current political climate surrounding this case, it is evident that the actions taken by the Uttar Pradesh Government in withdrawing the prosecution against those responsible for lynching Mohammad Akhlaq are not only withdrawing from having any responsibility for pursuing justice but are also an example of how for the past 10 years the government has systematically neglected this case, given political support to those accused of this heinous crime and created an environment of hostility toward the family of Mohammad Akhlaq.

The circumstances surrounding the lynching of one man’s father are now much broader than that man’s father’s murder. The current circumstances have become a long-term narrative about what a state can create over time and distribute through state-sponsored actions, as well as about eliminating any ultimate responsibility associated with that state.

September 28, 2015: The Night that Violence knocked on a Family’s Door

A news announcement spread through the Bisada Temple loudspeaker about animals being slaughtered resulted in the instant transformation of an unsubstantiated rumour into a murder sentence. A mob descended on the home of 50-year-old Mohammad Akhlaq and his family within minutes of the announcement being made, and forcibly removed Akhlaq and his son from the property, beating both Mohammad and his son Danish with sticks and metal rods, not stopping until their bodies lay in a pool of their own blood on the street in front of their house. Akhlaq died as a result of the beating he received; Danish survived but required immediate neurosurgery. This particularly brutal act of violence was planned by those committing the act, as well as the community, through the use of whisper campaigns, political pressure, and the manipulation of the emotional appeal of cow-vigilantism. These events were reconstructed in detail by Sabrang in “Akhlaq’s Lynching: 7 Years On – Only 1 of 25 Witnesses Testifies; Trial Reaches Evidence Stage”.

This story was originally published in sabrangindia.in. Read the full story here.