The family of Mohammad Akhlaq Saifi, who was lynched by his neighbours in Bishahra in Dadri in September last over rumours of him and his family having eaten beef, will move to the Allahabad High Court, seeking stay on the arrest order and quashing of a Surajpur court's order to the Greater Noida police on Thursday to register a case of cow slaughter against the victim and his family under the UP Cow Protection Act1955.
Counsel for Akhlaq and his family Asad Hayat told ANI, "Actually, we are moving to the high court for seeking stay on the arrest order and quashing of the FIR."
The counsel further said, "We have written to the administration that further investigation should be done into the matter, because so many things have emerged that show that investigation has not been done in those matters, especially in the matter of 'Fabrication of False Evidence'."
"Above all, the biggest issue is that they are making forensic lab report the basis of the case. We have to say that that report is not trustworthy, because the 'maal' (meat) which was seized on the intervening night of September 28-29 and sent to Dadri and Mathura labs were not sealed after the recovery.
"The meat seized from the chowk was not sealed and had been sent to the police station and the Dadri lab. If you see the recovery, it was written that about 2 kg of meat was seized, but the Dadri lab's report speaks about 4-5 kg of meat, who increased the quantity? Thus, when the basis is wrong, it is in itself is a proof of the fact that there is some conspiracy," said the counsel, while accusing the Noida authorities of carelessness in handling of the recovered meat.
Toeing the similar line, Akhlaq's son Sartaj also questioned the authenticity of the meat seized by police and the meat provided to the Mathura lab for a forensic examination.
Sartaj told ANI: "Where the meat was found; where it was sent; which meat was sent for forensic test, we are not concerned with that, because police had seized it from outside. Who had transplanted it and what was their motive, is a matter of police investigation.
"They are sending a forensic report of something, which was not recovered from our house. Whatever is the forensic report, we don't have anything to do with that. If that report confirmed it as cow, why should we be blamed for that."
Alleging that people having their vested interest were hatching a conspiracy, Sartaj, "They charged us with 156 (3) (magistrate has power under section 156(3) Cr.P.C. to order police to register FIR) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). It's baseless and a conspiracy against us. What result we get from it; is it that the government is blind or the judicial system is blind. It's not that and with that hope we are going to the Allahabad High Court so that the honourable court look into the matter in its entirety and give unbiased decision."
Recounting the incident, Sartaj said he was in Chennai when the incident took place and came to know about the entire episode upon his return
"If you look geographically, our home is surrounded by Hindu families, thus no Muslim would do such thing. In our locality, 80 percent population is of Hindus and everybody knows that cow is sacred in India, where is the question of anybody doing such thing? But targeting a particular person and attacking his house is a well-planned conspiracy," he alleged.
"You make announcement at a temple, the entire village gathers and meat pieces are given to police from outside, which police are also accepting and then the meat was changed under a conspiracy and we are being made victim of that," he further alleged.
When asked who was conspiring, Sartaj said it was a matter of police investigation. Police should investigate the matter thoroughly to find real culprits, he added.
Asked if he had doubts about the impartiality of the police investigation, he shot back it was due to the police investigation that 18 people were behind the bars.
"What I want to say that if they have investigated those facts this FIR would have not been required. Investigation was correct but some facts were left behind and remained uninvestigated. In our letters to SSP and the Uttar Pradesh Home Minister, we have urged them that some facts were left behind and those should be investigated thoroughly," Sartaj added.
The Surajpur court's direction came in the wake of a petition filed by some of the accused in the Akhlaq murder case, who sought an FIR against Akhlaq and his family for the alleged cow slaughter.
Fifty-year-old Akhlaq was lynched and his son Danish (22) was brutally beaten up by their neighbours in Bishahra in Dadri in September last for allegedly eating beef on Eid and storing it for later consumption.
