Greater Noida: Tension returned to Bishada village in Dadri on Monday, after nine months of peace, as the family members of those accused of the Dadri lynching and residents defied prohibitory orders and held a panchayat to demand that an FIR be lodged against victim Mohammed Akhlaq’s family for cow slaughter.
The demand comes after a lab report “established” that the meat found in the Dadri lynch victim’s house was that of a “cow or its progeny”. Since the report became public the villagers, supported by some local leaders, had been pushing for a “mahapanchayat” and Dadri had been put on high alert. Prohibitory orders were also issued.
Villagers give state 20 days to act
Around 300 villagers of Bishada attended the panchayat at the temple in the centre of the village. It is the same temple from where the announcement in the night of September 28, 2015 had led to people gathering outside Akhlaq's house "to teach him a lesson" for allegedly storing cow meat in his house. Mohammed Akhlaq was killed that night.
In Monday's meeting, senior villagers asked residents to give the district administration and police an ultimatum that they have 20 days to act on their demands, and, if the deadline was not met, they would call a "mahapanchayat" to decide their course of action.
