HOW AKHLAQ'S KILLERS GOT AWAY

The UP government seeks to drop prosecution against those accused in the Akhlaq lynching. Will the landmark case see a legal twist?

- By Avaneesh Mishra

NEARLY 10 YEARS HAVE PASSED since 50-year-old Mohammad Akhlaq was allegedly beaten to death in Bisada, a village in Dadri—barely 50 kilometres from Delhi—after rumours spread that he had slaughtered a cow and kept its meat at home. The case is back in the spotlight for a reason—it asks questions of law as well as justice, perhaps in an inverse relation. Raking up a controversy, the Uttar Pradesh government has asked a local court for permission to withdraw charges against all 19 men named in the case chargesheet.

In its application, the state has pointed to three grounds. The first is that Akhlaq's family members gave differing accounts while naming those involved in the alleged lynching. Two, investigators did not recover any firearm or sharp weapon from the accused— only sticks, iron rods and bricks. This, in its reading, suffices to rule out premeditation. And thirdly, blurring the division between mob lynching and individual murder, the police found no prior hostility between the men and the victim. On the basis of these, the state has sought nolle prosequi—the formal dropping of prosecution due to insufficient evidence or witness clarity—under a section of the Code of Criminal Procedure that allows this if the court agrees. The court has not ruled on the request yet and has listed the matter for December 12. Until a decision is made, the trial remains on track.

THE ORIGINAL SIN