AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday slammed the BJP-led Uttar Pradesh government after the Yogi Adityanath administration moved to withdraw cases against those accused in the 2015 mob lynching of Mohammad Akhlaq in Dadri, alleging that the BJP “always stands with the guilty” and that the decision exposes the party’s true face despite its loud claims about law and order.
“In 2015, Akhlaq was lynched in Dadri on the false accusation of possessing beef,” Owaisi said, highlighting that “at that time, Indians didn’t even know what lynching meant, and today it has become commonplace,” adding that Akhlaq’s family witnessed his killing with their own eyes and continues to live with the trauma.
“In ten years, no one has been punished. Now, Yogi Adityanath has decided that the cases against Akhlaq’s killers will be withdrawn. According to the government, this decision is in the interest of ‘social harmony’. But harmony is impossible on the foundation of injustice,” said Owaisi.
Taking a direct swipe at the Chief Minister, he accused that “Yogi Baba makes grand statements about law and order, but this is the true face of the BJP, that it will always be seen standing with the guilty.”
A decade after Mohammad Akhlaq was lynched to death in his hometown of Dadri in Uttar Pradesh, the state government has moved to drop all charges against those accused of killing him.
Meanwhile, the family of Akhlaq said they will continue fighting for justice after authorities recently moved to drop all charges against the accused.
Akhlaq, 52, was beaten to death by his neighbours in September 2015 on the false suspicion that he had slaughtered a calf and stored beef in his refrigerator.
The Yogi Adityanath government has now applied to the Upper Sessions Court in Gautam Buddha Nagar, where the case is being heard, seeking the withdrawal of every charge against the accused.
On the night of September 28, 2015, Akhlaq and his son Danish were dragged out of their home after a temple loudspeaker allegedly announced that he had slaughtered a cow. Akhlaq was brutally assaulted and died soon after, while Danish survived with severe injuries.
Despite the national outrage that followed, all 18 villagers accused of the murder were out on bail by September 2017, shortly after the BJP came to power in Uttar Pradesh.
Among them is Vishal Rana, the son of local BJP leader Sanjay Rana. While the accused returned to their village, Akhlaq’s family was forced to leave Dadri out of fear.
The group had originally been charged under several sections of the Indian Penal Code, including murder (302), attempt to murder (307), voluntarily causing hurt (323), intentional insult to provoke breach of peace (504), and criminal intimidation (506).
Akhlaq’s lynching had sparked the nationwide Not In My Name protests, which condemned the rise in Hindutva-driven mob violence. But the anger eventually ebbed as cow vigilantism and right wing Hindu mob attacks became increasingly normalised, particularly in BJP-ruled states.
The post “Social harmony cannot exist on injustice”: Asaduddin Owaisi slams UP govt for withdrawing Akhlaq lynching case appeared first on Maktoob media.
