30/09/2015
We never carried out sacrifices on Bakri-Eid to avoid any confrontation with other villagers.
Representational Images
Dadri Mumbai:
His family reportedly never carried out sacrifices on Bakri-Eid to avoid any confrontation with other villagers, but on Monday night a mob surrounded the house of Mohammad Akhlaq in Uttar Pradesh’s Dadri area and beat him to death over a rumour that his family was consuming cow meat.
The mob surrounded 50-year-old Akhlaq’s home accusing him of eating cow meat, broke down the doors, dragged him and his son out of their home and beat them with bricks, his daughter Sajida told the Indian Express.
The mob dragged her brother into the courtyard where they continued to beat him and some people also assaulted her grandmother and molested her, she said.
As per the rumour, the remains of a calf that had allegedly gone missing on 16 September were found near Akhlaq’s home. Akhlaq was allegedly seen throwing a bag containing meat and villagers claimed that it was from the missing calf.
Kiran S, the SSP of Dadri told NDTVthat the police had arrived at the site of the incident after reports of mob violence and had taken Akhlaq and his son to a hospital in Noida. But Akhlaq, a farm worker, succumbed to his injuries, he said. His son is reportedly in critical condition.
He confirmed that the preliminary reason for the attack seemed to be the fact that rumours had been spread about the family consuming cow meat. Kiran told the Indian Expressthat as per their investigations a group of persons had made the public announcement at the temple after which the mob attacked Akhlaq’s home.
“The family has been living there for 30-35 years and they had are very few relatives in that area. We are trying to figure out how the rumour began,” he told the channel.
He said that the family was conscious about the area they lived in and avoided making any animal sacrifice during Bakri-Eid.
“The family said that they would obtain meat from their relatives in Ghaziabad,
