Akhlaq Lynching Case: Court to Now Hear UP Govt's Plea to Withdraw Charges Against Accused on December 18

Akhlaq was killed by a mob in 2015 after rumours circulated that he had slaughtered a cow and stored beef in his home.

The Wire Staff

Akhlaq was killed by a mob in 2015 after rumours circulated that he had slaughtered a cow and stored beef in his home.

akhlaq lynching case court to now hear up govt s plea to withdraw charges against accused on december 18

Mohammad Akhlaq.

New Delhi: A court in Uttar Pradesh that was set to hear the state government’s plea to withdraw charges against all the 19 men accused in the 2015 Mohammad Akhlaq lynching case will now be hearing the matter on December 18.

While the matter was scheduled to be heard on Friday (December 12), the prosecution’s lawyer Yusuf Saifi told the court that he wanted to file an objection to the Uttar Pradesh government’s proposal, following which the new date of hearing was decide, reported Indian Express.

“We submitted an application for more time and now the matter is listed for December 18,” Saifi told the newspaper.

Akhlaq was killed by a mob in 2015 after rumours circulated that he had slaughtered a cow and stored beef in his home. His lynching set the precedent for a slew of incidents of mob vigilantism in the Modi decade.

According to an application filed before the upper sessions court in Gautam Buddha Nagar, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled state government has requested the withdrawal of prosecution under Section 321 of the Criminal Procedure Code. Among the accused is Vishal Rana, son of local BJP leader Sanjay Rana.

The accused had been charged under several sections of the Indian Penal Code, now replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult), and 506 (criminal intimidation).

The withdrawal request was moved on October 15 by Bhag Singh, assistant district government counsel, Gautam Buddha Nagar, following the state government’s directions conveyed through a letter dated August 26.

This article went live on December twelfth, two thousand twenty five, at thirty-four minutes past three in the afternoon.

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