A decade after Mohammad Akhlaq was lynched to death in his hometown in Uttar Pradesh’s Dadri, the state government has moved to drop charges against all the accused, Outlook reported on Thursday. The 52-year-old was killed by his neighbours on suspicion of slaughtering a calf.
Outlook reports, citing the application, that the government has applied to the Upper Sessions Court in Gautam Buddha Nagar, where the case is being heard, seeking the withdrawal of all charges against the accused. According to the report, the withdrawal application was moved on October 15 by the Assistant District Government Counsel in Gautam Buddha Nagar, acting on the directions of the State Government conveyed through a letter dated August 26.
The application states that the Governor has granted written approval for the withdrawal of prosecution.
On September 28, 2015, Akhlaq and his son, Danish, were dragged out of their home, mercilessly assaulted and then left for dead after a temple loudspeaker allegedly announced that he had slaughtered a cow and stored beef in his refrigerator. While Akhlaq died, his son sustained critical injuries.
Despite national attention to the case, all 18 villagers accused of the murder were released on bail by September 2017, immediately after the BJP’s Yogi Adityanath was sworn into power. Among the accused is Vishal Rana, son of local BJP leader Sanjay Rana from Dadri.
While the accused returned to the village, Akhlaq’s family moved out in fear of hostilities.
The accused were initially charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), and 506 (criminal intimidation).
Akhlaq’s lynching triggered the Not In My Name protests in Indian cities, denouncing the spike in Hindutva mob violence. But the hostilities later became normalised with cow vigilantism and mob violence becoming common in BJP-ruled states.
This story was originally published in maktoobmedia.com.