Activists hold a candle light vigil in support of Mohamed Akhlaq who was lynched over rumours he ate beef, at Rajghat in Delhi yesterday.
Agencies
New Delhi
Police yesterday arrested two more suspects in a mob murder of a man over rumours he had eaten beef, as debate mounted over communal intolerance under the Bharatiya Janata Party government.
Mohamed Akhlaq, 50, was dragged from his house on the outskirts of the capital and beaten to death by around 100 people on Monday night over suspicions he had eaten beef.
Akhlaq’s 22-year-old son was also seriously injured in the attack in Bisada village in Uttar Pradesh state and has been undergoing treatment at a nearby hospital.
“Total eight main accused (have been) arrested out of 10 named ones,” A Satish Ganesh, a senior police official for Uttar Pradesh said, without giving any further details.
Police arrested six other suspects on Wednesday.
The case has fuelled concerns over perceptions religious intolerance is growing under the BJP government.
Calls have grown for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to speak out on the case after colleagues in his party came under fire for appearing to trivialise the crime.
“If somebody says it was pre-planned, I don’t agree. It was an accident and investigations should happen,” Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma told reporters during a visit to the victim’s family on Friday.
“The situation in the area is tense and we have posted additional forces,” another police official said.
About 500 Hindu women blocked roads leading to the village alleging media and politicians were biased in favour of the Muslim community, NDTV reported.
“One party wants to make Hindus its vote bank, while another is eyeing Muslim votes by poisoning relations between Hindus and Muslims,” Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said after visiting the village and meeting the victim’s family.
He was referring to the BJP, which has a strong presence in Uttar Pradesh, and the state’s ruling Samajwadi Party.
Kejriwal was allowed to meet the man’s widow and mother after he waited patiently for about four hours at a guest house after being initially barred by police from reaching the village.
After meeting the family of the victim, one of whose sons is in the Indian Air Force (IAF), Kejriwal said: “This incident is unfortunate and completely against humanity.”
He spent about half-an-hour in the village and listened to the woes of the Hindu families as well.
He wanted to know why he and his colleagues were stopped by police and the administration when the culture minister and as Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) leader Asaduddin Owaisi were allowed to enter the village on Friday.
“Why me? I am most peace loving,” Kejriwal tweeted.
“I am being accused of doing politics. Yes, I am doing politics. But I am doing politics of unity and love, they are doing politics of hatred.
Also yesterday, air force chief Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha termed as an “unfortunate incident” the lynching of the father of the IAF employee, and said his officers were in touch with the family.
“The family will be moved to a safe area soon,” he said.
Rumours that the family had eaten beef began when a calf was reported missing in Dadri village, 35km from New Delhi.
Soon after a nearby temple made an announcement via loudspeaker that the family had eaten beef and within minutes the mob kicked down Akhlaq’s door and tore through his home before killing him.
The victim’s family has maintained they had mutton in the fridge and not beef.
Killing cows is banned in many states of India.
In March, Maharashtra toughened its ban to make even possessing beef illegal, a move seen by religious minorities as a sign of the growing power of hardline Hindus since Modi came to power last year.
