Image: Jagran
Strongly condemning the nefarious designs of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Hindutva communal forces who are clearly seeking to raise communal tensions by utilising the so-called beef consumption in Bisara village in Dadri, Uttar Pradesh, the CPI (M) Polit Bureau has demanded that Sanjeev Balyan, union minister of state for agriculture and farmers be booked for inciting hatred.
The killing of Mohammad Akhlaq and the attack on his family is now sought to be diverted to the issue of cow slaughter and beef consumption, says the statement issued today. Utilising an alleged report of a forensic lab in Mathura that a piece of meat found, that too not in Akhlaq's house, was beef, a meeting in the village has demanded that cases be registered against the family members of Akhlaq. A 20-day ultimatum has been given to the administration to act in the matter with the warning that failure to so do will lead to "public anger".
A Minister in the Modi Government, Sanjeev Balyan, (union minister of state for agriculture and farmers) who was previously implicated in cases connected with the Muzaffarnagar riots, has made a provocative statement demanding a probe to find out who all had consumed beef besides Akhlaq. Other BJP leaders have demanded that action be taken against Akhlaq's family members.
Yesterday, June 7, The Indian Express had reported under the heading, “Sanjeev Balyan’s wisdom on Dadri lynching: 1 cow 150 kg, find out who all ate it” that: Balyan’s demand came in the wake of a report from a forensic laboratory in Mathura that the meat sample recovered from outside 50-year-old Akhlaq’s house belonged to a “cow or its progeny”.
All these statements are being made with the sole intention of stoking communal tensions and is part of the wider game plan of the BJP to create communal polarisation in Uttar Pradesh before the Assembly elections due next year (2017). The Uttar Pradesh administration should file cases against Sanjeev Balyan and others for inciting communal hatred.
The Uttar Pradesh state government should deal firmly with all those elements who are trying to incite communal passions and provoke violence. There should be no laxity in prosecuting all those accused in the Akhlaq murder case.
A mob broke into the house of Md Akhlaq at Dadri on September 28 last year and lynched him to death. His son sustained serious head injuries but survived. While the mob claimed to have been outraged by 'proof' that Md Akhlaq had been consuming beef at home, no beef was apparently found in the house.
Even the Uttar Pradesh Police claims that the only sample it collected was from a garbage bin at a distance from the house after being directed there by the villagers. Police claims there are eyewitnesses who have signed to certify from where the sample was collected. The lynching made international headlines and 17 people arrested for the lynching are still in prison while the trial is on in a court in Greater Noida.
The media has reported high tensions in western Uttar Pradesh in and around Bisera village in Dadri over the past few days, following this leaked report and provocative statements by persons in government and the sangh parivar.
Meanwhile a report in the Outlook has raised 13 pertinent questions on the contradictions between various reports being leaked to the media by the Uttar Pradesh police that are undertaking investigations. Uttam Sengupta in The Outlook asks:
- Why did it take seven long months for the forensic report dated October 3, 2015 to surface?
- Newspapers dated October 9, 2015 quoted official sources as saying that the sample collected from Md Akhlaq's house was reported by the FSL, Mathura as mutton. While it matches the date on the forensic report, has the original report been changed?
- Even earlier, immediately in the aftermath of the lynching at Dadri on September 28, newspaper reports quoted official sources as saying that a visual inspection by a Veterinary doctor had established that the meat was from a 'goat progeny'.
- This report stated that a physical examination on September 29, 2015 indicated that the meat 'belongs to goat progeny'. It also says that the sample comprised 4-5 Kgs of meat and that both foreleg and hind leg of the animal was recovered.
- The family maintains that no forensic analysis is required to identify the foreleg and the hind leg of a goat as distinct from a cow.
Other pertinent questions by Outlook can be read here
Image: Outlook