New twist in the case.
By Sreekanth A. Nair
A court in Uttar Pradesh has ordered the police to register a First Information Report against the family members of Mohammad Akhlaq who was lynched by a mob for keeping beef in his home in Bisada in September last year.
According to a report in The Times of India, district chief judicial magistrate Vijay Kumar has ordered Jarcha police to register a case and start an investigation into the matter.
“Judicial Magistrate Vijay Kumar, acting on application moved under 156(3) CrPC for registration of a case, has ordered investigation and lodging of an FIR of cow slaughter against Akhlaq’s family,” D S R Tripathi, Senior Prosecution Officer, said.
A recent forensic report had proved that the meat kept in Akhlaq’s house was cow meat. A group of residents from Bisad headed by Surajpal Singh (65) approached the court seeking action against the family members after the report was published. An earlier report had said that the meat was mutton.
The villagers accused that Akhlaq and his son Danish (21) killed a cow of one of their neighbors and consumed its meat. Killing cow is a crime in UP.
Surajpal Singh named Akhlaq, his wife Ikraman, mother Asghari, brother Jaan Mohammad, daughter Shaishta, son Danish, and Akhlaq’s brother Jafaruddin’s wife Sona in the complaint.
Surajpal Singh’s lawyer Rajeev Tyagi said that he had approached the police for registering a case against the Akhlaq family, but they refused to go ahead with legal proceedings.
The Akhlaq family has decided to challenge the decision in higher court.
“All the accused persons have admitted their roles in Akhlaq murder. We will challenge the order in higher court,” Yusuf Saifi, lawyer of Akhlaq family, told PTI.
BJP leader Sanjay Rana, the father of one of the accused in the lynching, welcomed the court order. “This is a victory of justice. I will go back to villagers with the court order. I will study the full order and then call a panchayat (village meeting) over it,” Rana told NDTV.