Uttar Pradesh: Under Yogi Adityanath, the Uttar Pradesh government has applied to withdraw all charges, including murder, against the ten men accused of the 2015 killing of Mohammad Akhlaq in Dadri.
The government has applied to the Upper Sessions Court in Gautam Buddha Nagar, where the case is being heard. They asked for the removal of all charges against the accused. Among the accused is Vishal Rana, son of local BJP leader Sanjay Rana.
At the time of the incident, the accused were charged under different sections of the Indian Penal Code, which is now superseded by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). They were charged under sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), and 506 (criminal intimidation).
On September 28, 2015, in a small village of Bisahda near Dadri, 52-year-old Mohammed Akhlaq and his young son, Danish, 22, were brutally assaulted by the Hindutva mob, on suspicion of slaughtering a cow and storing beef in his refrigerator.
The men were dragged to the courtyard and attacked with sticks, bricks and knives. Akhlaq was hit on his head and chest, leaving him unconscious. According to his daughter, Sajida, the mob also tried to molest the female members, including her grandmother.
While Akhlaq succumbed, Danish suffered grave injuries.
Before dying, Mohammed Akhlaq had called up his childhood friend Manoj Sisodia for help. ”Manoj, we are in danger. Please call up the police and ask them to send a force”, Akhlaq told Sisodia over the phone.
Though Sisodia informed the police and reached the spot in 15 minutes after the call, he could not save his best friend’s life.
The night of his lynching was one of the most horrifying incidents in India’s communal history. His lynching had sparked ‘Not In My Name‘ protests across the country, denouncing the rise of Hindutva mob violence.
The assistant district government counsel in Gautam Buddha Nagar filed the withdrawal application on October 15, under the state government instruction from an August 26 letter, the Outlook India reported.
The case drew massive attention nationally, and widespread protests were held against the accused. Although all 18 villagers who took part in the lynching were released on bail, right after Yogi Adityanath came into power in 2017.
