Brinda Karat seeks President’s intervention over UP move to withdraw Akhlaq lynching case

Senior CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat on Saturday wrote to President Droupadi Murmu seeking urgent intervention in the Uttar Pradesh government’s decision to withdraw charges against those accused in the 2015 mob lynching of Mohammad Akhlaq in Dadri, a case that had triggered nationwide outrage.

In her letter, Karat alleged that the state government’s attempt to drop the case was “wholly illegal, unjust and politically motivated”, and questioned the role of the Uttar Pradesh Governor in granting permission for the withdrawal.

“The governor has given written permission to the UP government to go ahead with this attempt to subvert the processes of justice, even though the main witness has already given evidence,” she wrote, adding that since governors are appointed by the President, she was compelled to bring the matter to Murmu’s attention.

According to Karat, the state government has filed an affidavit in the Greater Noida district court seeking withdrawal of the case with the Governor’s approval.

Akhlaq was lynched on 28 September 2015 in Bisahada village after an alleged announcement from a temple claimed that he had slaughtered a cow.

He was dragged out of his home and beaten to death, while his son Daanish, who survived the assault, continues to suffer long-term injuries. “Even today, Danish has not fully recovered,” Karat said.

The CPI(M) leader said the victim’s daughter had already deposed before the court, identifying and naming all the accused, and that two more direct witnesses were yet to testify. “Evidence against the accused has been presented and recorded. The case is ongoing,” she noted.

Karat alleged that the prosecution had itself delayed the case by failing to summon witnesses in time, and that this manufactured delay was now being cited as a reason to withdraw the charges. She criticised the grounds offered by the government — including that lathis, not guns, were used, and that continuing the case could lead to “communal disharmony”.

“This is motivated not to meet the ends of justice but to subvert the entire judicial process,” she wrote. “Should the governor not counsel the government against such a step? Is it not the duty of the governor to uphold the Constitution and the rule of law?”

Karat warned that allowing such withdrawals would set a dangerous precedent: “Will this not then apply to all cases of mob lynching — that there was no personal animosity, or that harmony requires such cases to be withdrawn?”

She urged President Murmu to direct the Governor to reverse her approval. The matter, scheduled to be heard on 12 December, was postponed at the prosecution’s request.

The Uttar Pradesh government has moved to withdraw charges against all accused in the Dadri case, nearly a decade after the incident. No response from state authorities was immediately available.

With inputs from PTI