Allahabad HC stays Dadri victim kin’s arrest

The Allahabad high court on Friday issued stay orders on the arrest of Dadri lynching victim Mohammad Ikhlaq’s family for alleged cow slaughter. In July, a Noida court had asked the Uttar Pradesh police to file a case against the family after a petition was filed by the villagers.

The police had earlier filed an FIR under Section 3/8 of the Cow Slaughter Act. This section makes it illegal to slaughter a cow anywhere in UP and attracts an imprisonment of up to seven years.

The FIR was filed against Ikhlaq, Jaan (Ikhlaq’s brother), Danish (Ikhlaq’s son), Shaista (Ikhlaq’s daughter), Asghari (Ikhlaq’s mother), Ikraman (Akhlaq’s wife) and Sona (wife of Zafruddin, another relative of Ikhlaq).

The court has stayed the arrest of all family members, except Jaan.

It may be recalled that Ikhlaq was lynched by a mob on September 29 last year on the suspicion that his family had stored and consumed beef at their home in Bisada village in Dadri.

In June this year, a report issued by a forensic lab in Mathura has stated that the meat sample recovered from outside the victim’s house belonged to a “cow or its progeny”.

Ikhlaq’s family had earlier moved the high court seeking a ban on the arrest. The family claims that they have been falsely implicated in the case.

The family recently met the UP DGP Javeed Ahmad to seek a re-investigation into the case.

Ikhlaq’s son had alleged tampering of evidences collected from their home.