Seven years after Akhlaq’s gruesome murder, his family still waits for justice

Despite the climate of fear, says Akhlaq’s brother Jaan Mohammed, he will continue to pursue the legal battle against the accused — the trial has so far been marred by delays and only recently picked up pace – as it’s a ‘matter of justice for my late brother’. Meanwhile, there is a ‘total breakdown’ of relations between Muslims and Hindus in the village where Akhlaq once lived

Hawa kharaab hai (circumstances are adverse)”, says Pravesh Kumar, an autorickshaw driver, as he ferries this correspondent to Bisada village in western Uttar Pradesh’s Dadri town, where seven years ago, on the night of September 28, 2015, a mob lynched 52-year-old Mohammad Akhlaq on the suspicion of slaughtering a calf.

“ Aapka wahan jaana theek nahi hai (You shouldn’t go there),” Mr. Kumar, whose family hails from Bisada, adds.

A few hours ago, Akhlaq’s brother, Jaan Mohammed, had issued a similar warning. “I’ll advise that you go only during the day.”

Even before one reaches Bisada, the total breakdown of relations between the village’s Muslims and Hindus is palpable.

“There is no social interaction between Hindus and Muslims in Bisada unless one comes face to face on the road. Of the 30 Muslim families that used to reside in the village before Akhlaq’s murder, eight to ten have moved out,” Mr. Mohammed says.

The first to move out was Akhlaq’s family, which fled their house under the shadow of fear on October 17, 2015.

This year, as has happened over the past six, no family member came to the village to host a prayer meeting on Akhlaq’s death anniversary. There is a danger to their life and limb. The attackers, as Mr. Mohammed points out, “roam freely”.