A citizens’ group of respectable people from Okhla in Delhi went to Dadri in the morning of Friday, 2 October 2015 on a fact-finding mission to ascertain the facts about the 28 September lynching of Mohammad Akhlaq and severely injuring his son Danish in Bisara village near Dadri.
While the group was with the family of the victims, the area SDM came and threatened the family not to say anything against the BJP and told them to meet the BJP leaders who wanted to meet them. The citizens’ group objected to what the SDM said and asked him why he was doing this. He ran away from the place. The group came out and protested peacefully against what the SDM had said and asked police officers on the spot to call their senior officers. Dozens of news channel and press reporters witnessed and covered this whole episode. The SDM himself never answered the questions posed by the group which was kept from the SDM by police.
All this was going on in full view of hundreds of mediamen. A few minutes later the group left but the police chased them, blocked their cars and forced them to get down at gun-point. They were searched, their mobile phones checked and clips deleted. Policemen photographed their IDs as well. After this they were allowed to leave but next morning they saw a totally different story in newspapers based on SDM’s version in which he claimed that the group disturbed peace and manhandled the SDM which is totally false. The group is being threatened that false cases will be registered against them although video clips of dozens of TV channels do not support the police version, showing that nothing happened there except a peaceful protest.
AIMMM President Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan has expressed his anguish over the behaviour of the SDM, Dadri and has asked state authorities to take action against him. Earlier, on 3 October, AIMMM working committee passed a resolution for the suspension of this SDM for threatening the family of the victim and helping the killers of Akhlaq. AIMMM President has written in this respect to the CM, Uttar Pradesh and to the National Human Rights and Minority Commissions.
Meanwhile, the Executive Committee of AMU Teachers’ Association, in a meeting on 3 October, expressed its revulsion and deep sense of shock at the brutal murder of Mohammad Akhlaq and the life sapping assault on his son at Bisara village Dadri, over rumours of cow slaughter.
In a resolution it said, “We condemn this dastardly killing with all the vehemence at our command. We also condemn the attitude of the Governments at both the national and state level for their many acts of omission and commission during this continually unfolding tragedy. The silence of the Central government and the State government’s insistence on sending meat samples for forensic analysis shows the extent of rot in the body politic.”