The group of men accused of beating Mohammad Akhlaq to death in Uttar Pradesh’s Dadri were reportedly seen cheering Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath during a rally on Sunday.
Photo Credit: Saurabh Trivedi
Noida: The group of men accused of beating Mohammad Akhlaq to death in Uttar Pradesh’s Dadri were reportedly seen cheering Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath during a rally on Sunday.
NDTV reported that Vishal Rana, the main accused, and three others were seen who are out on bail, were cheering on during the rally held in Greater Noida’s Bisada village.
Akhlaq was brutally and mercilessly beaten and murdered in front of his family on suspicions having killed a cow. His son Danish was also brutally beaten but survived the attack.
It didn’t stop Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath from invoking the incident at the rally.
“Who doesn’t remember what happened in Bisada? The way the Samajwadi Party government tried to curb our emotions here,” said Adityanath, while campaigning for the BJP’s Gautam Buddha Nagar candidate, Mahesh Sharma.
“Vishal Singh, one of the prime accused in the case, who was seen sitting in the front with other accused in the case, said they had been falsely implicated in the case. He also said “nothing will happen now,” since they are out on bail, he smiled,” The Hindu reported.
“In the chargesheet filed by the police, Vishal Singh was accused of making an announcement from a local temple that Akhlaq had consumed beef and was storing it in his house. All 17 accused in the case are out on bail,” the report said.
“People in Western U.P. are living a peaceful life under BJP rule because impossible is now possible because of Modi,” Adityanath said in the rally.
In the rally, the CM also accused the previous governments of “harassing” the majority community by lodging “false” cases against them and thus creating a “breeding ground” for riots. “During my two years, has there has been any Bisada-like incident? Has there been any safety concern to sisters and mothers? No. This cannot happen because we have said that we will guarantee safety and development to 23 crore citizens of the state, bring everyone into the mainstream. We won’t differentiate between people but won’t engage in appeasement politics,” he said.
Granted bail by the Allahabad High Court in 2017, like all the other accused, Vishal told The Indian Express, “Yes I was there at the rally with the others. We all support the BJP.”
While all the accused are back home at Bisada, Akhlaq’s family had left the village shortly after the incident.
With charges yet to be framed and all the 19 accused on bail, Akhlaq’s family questioned the functioning of the fast-track court. “It’s been so many years, we have had dates after dates. We keep doing our duty by visiting the Greater Noida court, but we are still awaiting trial. The fast-track court was set up for a purpose and it remains unfulfilled. The accused are roaming free with zero consequences,” Akhlaq’s brother Jan Mohammad said in a report by The India Express.
Manju Verma, former Bihar minister who is out on bail in the Muzaffarpur shelter homes case, was also seen seated on stage behind BJP’s minister Giriraj Singh during a speech. This was in Begusarai. Verma was arrested under the Indian Arms Act. Just last week, charges were framed in court against 21 of the accused in this case, The Wire reported.