Bisada villagers call off ‘mahapanchayat’

Villagers in Bisada on Saturday called off their scheduled April 10 “mahapanchayat” after an appeal by the administration. People from around 140 villages were supposed to take part in the Mahapanchayat of Saatha-Chaurasi villages.

The objective of the Mahapanchayat was to press their demand for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe the lynching of Ikhlaq. Other demands included disclosing of the report of the forensic test on the meat found in Ikhlaq’s house.

“We have called off the mahapanchayat after district magistrate N.P. Singh appealed for the same. The DM assured us that he will write to Akhilesh Yadav, UP chief minister, on recommendation for a CBI probe. He also promised that the forensic report will be submitted to the district court on April 7,” said Sanjiv Rana, the father of one of the people accused in the killing of Ikhlaq.

The Uttar Pradesh chief minister had asked DM N.P. Singh to leave his 45-day IAS training programme in Hyderabad and work immediately to stop the mahapanchayat, which could disturb communal harmony in and around Bisada.

An uneasy calm continued to prevail in Bisada on Saturday as the villagers are angry at the arrest of 18 youth allegedly involved in the Ikhlaq lynching. The administration had wanted to stop the Mahapanchayat because it could have triggered polarisation in Western UP.

The Bisada villagers had planned to invite many BJP leaders to the mahapanchayat, thereby worrying state government and local administration officials.

“I am happy that the villagers honoured my appeal and called off the Mahapanchayat. We are working hard to maintain normalcy in Bisada and adjoining villages. We are convincing villagers that peace is the only solution,” said Mr N.P. Singh, DM, Gautam Budh Nagar.

“I have sent R.K. Singh, the Dadri sub-divisional magistrate (SDM), and circle officer Anurag Singh, who met the villagers at 3.30 pm,” said the DM.

Ikhlaq, 55, was lynched and his son Danish was critically injured on September 28, 2015 over allegations of slaughtering a cow and storing its meat for consumption at Bisada village in Dadri, 60 km from Delhi. The incident ignited a debate on intolerance across the country.

Police officers and paramilitary force continue to be deployed in Bisada after villagers, mostly women, protested against the police and administration on Wednesday. They demanded the immediate release of all 18 accused arrested in the case.

The villagers have also filed a petition in the Allahabad high court demanding a CBI probe on the ground that the UP police probe team is not honest. The high court is scheduled to hear this case on April 6.

“I told the villagers that when the CBI probe matter is in court then they should have faith in the judiciary for justice,” said Mr N.P. Singh.

The villagers also alleged that many out of the 18 arrested have been wrongly arrested. “If the villagers will provide evidence that a particular boy was not involved in the mob, then the administration will help them get justice. The villagers need not worry because the court will examine the evidence and then give its verdict,” said Mr Singh.