A usually united India, often finds its differences when it comes to communities and religion. A horrific event that both, divided the country and brought it together in a fight against injustice. A mob of people attacked a Muslim family in Bisara village near Dadri, Uttar Pradesh. The attackers killed 52 year old Mohammad Akhlaq Saifi and seriously injured his 22 year old son Danish.
Accusing them of consuming beef, the mob found some meat in the fridge and seized it, dragging the family outside. Akhlaq and Danish were repeatedly kicked, hit with bricks and stabbed. The family's Hindu neighbours tried to stop the mob, and called the police, who arrived an hour later to find a severely injured Danish and a dead Akhlaq. The police arrested the temple's priest and his assistant for questioning. As FIR was filed naming 10 of the attackers based on the testimony of the family members. The FIR contained charges under Sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting with deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly), 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 458 (house-breaking), and 504 (intentional insult with intent to breach of the peace) of the Indian Penal Code. Six of them were found and arrested.
Seven of the 10 youth have been found to belong to the family of district BJP worker Sanjay Rana, including his son Vishal. A Home Guard constable detained in connection with the lynching, Vinay, is also related to Sanjay Rana. Rana confirmed that apart from Vishal, Saurabh, Gaurav, Sandeep, Shivam, Sachin and Vivek are from his family. The other three, Rupendra, Hari Om and Shri Om, he said, are their neighbours. Sachin and Hari Om are still absconding.
In a strong signal from the Centre against religious extremism, the Union home ministry sent an advisory to all states asking them to exercise “zero tolerance” to any attempt “to weaken the secular fabric of the nation” and “exploiting (of) religious sentiments”. The communication specifically asks the states to take “strictest action as per law against such (communal) elements without any exception whatsoever”. While saying that law and order was basically a State subject, the home ministry said it was “concerned with various incidents with communal overtones across the country including the recent unfortunate incident at Dadri, UP”.
Meanwhile, the UP police wrote a letter to Twitter Inc. asking them to pull down certain posts and photos which they tagged as provocative. IG Prakash D said the letter was sent by the social media lab of UP police asking for removal of specific photographs and text uploaded by a twitter handle. “We are investigating into the other aspects like the individual behind the handle that was used to upload this objectionable text and graphics as such activities whip up communal passions which can prove detrimental for the surcharged atmosphere prevailing in certain parts of the state,” he said.
Finance minister Arun Jaitley condemned the lynching of a man over beef eating rumour, saying such incidents hurt the country's image. “India is a mature society. We need to rise above these kinds of incidents because they certainly don't give a good name as far as the country is concerned,” he told reporters.
