Greater Noida: A local court today ordered the Greater Noida police to register an FIR against the kin of Mohammad Akhlaq, allegedly lynched by a mob in September last year on a suspicion that he had consumed and stored beef, for alleged cow slaughter.
The court was hearing a petition filed by a resident of the Bisada village, of which Akhlaq was a resident, to file an FIR against his family in this regard. The petitioner sought an FIR into the matter after a government laboratory confirmed that the meat samples it received for testing were beef.
Bisada resident Surajpal Singh (65) had filed the complaint in the court on June 9, seeking registration of an FIR.
Singh had, on June 9, on behalf of a group of Bisada residents, initially submitted the application to the chief judicial magistrate of Gautam Budh Nagar under Section 156 (3) of CrPC, with a request to direct police to file a case against Akhlaq's family.
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The section empowers a magistrate to order an FIR and police probe.
Singh's petition was based on a handwritten report from the UP government's forensic laboratory in Mathura, which says the meat sample sent to it for tests in the Akhlaq lynching case was beef.
The matter was scheduled for hearing on June 13, but it was adjourned till June 23. On June 23, the order was reserved for July 6. However, on July 6, the court had again deferred an order in the case till July 11.
In a twist to the case, a lab report in May said that the meat found in Akhlaq’s house, which led to the entire incident, was that of a "a cow or its progeny". This was a departure from the police’s earlier version quoting a local lab report that found the meat to be that of a goat or its progeny.
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"Initially we did say mutton but subsequently we were told by the lab that it was beef," Uttar Pradesh police chief Javed Ahmed told a television channel.
The police chief said that the report will not dismiss the case as a murder is still an offence.
However, Chand Mohammad, Akhlaq's brother has claimed this report to be an act of politics. "Dadri police said mutton, now you are saying it is beef. We reject this report, it is all politics," he said.
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Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav also expressed his doubts over the forensic lab report saying, “Where was the sample sent, who received it? There was nothing objectionable in his house. Every eye is on this matter. Everyone wants that the victim’s family should get justice as murder had taken place."
In later days, leaders of BJP and Shiv Sena demanded arrest of Akhlaq’s family. Villagers of Bisahada defied prohibitory orders and held a Panchayat at the village temple to take stock of the situation and plan their future course of action.
In tha Panchayat, which was reportedly led by leaders of the BJP and Shiv Sena, the villagers sought action against the family of Mohammed Akhlaq. In a stern warning for the state government, the Panchayat demanded that Akhlaq’s family must be booked for cow-slaughter within 20 days.
Later, villagers moved court seeking registration of a FIR against the family members of Mohammad Akhlaq for allegedly slaughtering a cow.
