Dadri villagers don’t want flare-up

A day after a forensic lab in Mathura declared that the meat found from Mohammad Ikhlaq’s house in Dadri last September was beef, communal temperatures in the district shot up with political leaders in the state taking definitive, divisive sides. A heavy deployment of police has been made in the area to ensure politicians or fringe groups do not cause trouble in the sensitive district.

The AIMIM staged a dharna in Lucknow, demanding justice for the Dadri victim’s family, and BJP state president Keshav Maurya asked the Akhilesh Yadav government to apologise to the people of Bisada village where the incident took place. Family members of the 18 youth arrested for the lynching of Ikhlaq for allegedly slaughtering a cow, have demanded that compensation and other facilities given by the UP government to Ikhlaq’s family be withdrawn. Family members of the accused also filed a complaint on Wednesday demanding the registration of an FIR against Ikhlaq’s family.

Sanjay Rana, a villager whose 22-year old son Vishal has been in jail for the last eight months, said, “When cow slaughter is banned in Uttar Pradesh, why is state government rewarding them for it ”

“This is not a matter of our village alone. Sentiments of a large number of people living in Bisada have been hurt. We have got calls from many expressing grief, we are getting connected to them through social media and may soon launch a mass movement seeking justice for our innocent kids,” said Rajpal Singh, whose son Arun is also being held in the case.

The forensic report of the Mathura lab is contrary to the preliminary report by the UP Veterinary department which had said that the meat over which Ikhlaq was lynched was mutton of “goat or goat progeny”. It has been sent to the Noida police and submitted to a fast-track court in a sealed cover, an official said.

Iqlakh’s family maintains that they have not seen the report yet. Terming the report “a political conspiracy”, Iqlakh’s brother Jaan Mohammad, who works with a private company in Dadri said, “I have not seen the report, but we suspect some political conspiracy in it. No police officer collected the meat sample from our house. The sample sent for forensic test was collected from the road. There is no evidence that it was from our house.”

Despite the anger, locals claim that there will be no communal flare-up in the area. They say they will not entertain any politician who could add fuel to the fire.

“This is a peaceful village. Only the family of Iqlakh has left the village, rest everyone is here. But yes, one-sided approach by the officials has caused some bitterness among the locals, mostly Rajputs and Brahmins. They used to give us loans and accompany us in religious function, but now they try to avoid us,” said a Muslim labourer who lives near a primary school in Dadri. Meanwhile, Ikhlaq’s son Danish, who survived the mob attack, is scheduled to undergo a head surgery this week.