How Do You Kill a Case? The UP Government’s Playbook in the Akhlaq Lynching

The Dadri lynching case, which once shook the nation, is on the verge of being withdrawn by the UP government. Citing flimsy and familiar excuses, the state seeks to absolve those accused of murdering Akhlaq. The decision threatens to turn India’s justice system into a tool for protecting mobs, not victims

Date:

Share post:

Ten years.

Ten whole years since a mob dragged Mohammad Akhlaq out of his home in Dadri, beat him to death with bricks and rods because someone spread the lie that he had beef in his fridge. Forensic tests later proved it was mutton. But Akhlaq was already dead, his son Danish was fighting for life, and the country was burning with shame.

The mob was led by the son and nephew of a local BJP leader.

They were arrested, charged with murder, then quietly released on bail.

For a decade, the trial crawled at a snail’s pace, prosecution witnesses barely began to be examined, and the killers walked free among us.

And now, in 2025, the BJP government of Uttar Pradesh wakes up and decides: “Let’s just drop the entire case.”

An application under Section 321 CrPC has been filed to withdraw the murder prosecution. The reasons? “Inconsistent statements,” “no sharp weapons recovered,” “no prior enmity.”

The same tired excuses that courts routinely reject in every mob-lynching trial. These are not legal grounds; they are political cover.

This is not an oversight. This is not incompetence.

This is a blatant attempt to bury justice because the accused have the right political connections and the victims are from the “wrong” faith.

The court is not bound to accept this shameful withdrawal. The law is crystal clear.
But will the judge dare to stand up to a government that has spent years intimidating the judiciary, transferring “inconvenient” judges, and turning courts into extensions of the ruling party?

We saw what happened at the Supreme Court level, collegium battles, midnight transfers, judges afraid to even take up certain cases.

If the highest court can be brought to its knees, what chance does a district judge in Gautam Buddh Nagar have?

Mohammad Akhlaq was murdered twice:

Once by a hate-drunk mob in 2015.

And again in 2025 by a government that has decided his life was worth nothing.

If this withdrawal is allowed, every future lynching will carry a silent footnote: “Kill now, we will clean it up later.” Share this if your blood is still capable of boiling.

Tag every judge, every lawyer, every citizen who still believes India is a country of laws, not of lynch mobs and their political godfathers.

Related articles

India Counts the Cost of Extreme Heat. But Who Counts the Women Losing Work?

India has begun measuring the enormous economic cost of extreme heat, but much less is known about who bears that cost. Women workers, especially those in informal employment, may be among the most affected

‘We Need to Be More Understanding’: Sharmila Tagore Backs Seher Hashmi’s ‘Beyond the Horizon’ Ride

Seher Hashmi’s 7,000-km Beyond the Horizon expedition, flagged off by Sharmila Tagore in Delhi, aims to break mental-health myths and encourage people to seek support.

From GB Meeting Dispute to Campus Clash: What Happened at Jadavpur University

A violent confrontation at Jadavpur University over a proposed FETSU general body meeting left several students injured, as ABVP and Left-backed student organisations traded allegations of assault, vandalism and stone-pelting.

A Lifetime for the Marginalised: Remembering Kazi Mohammed Sherif, Champion of People’s Movements in Bengal

Kazi Mohammed Sherif spent a lifetime standing with marginalised communities, building institutions and strengthening people’s movements. His journey from public service to grassroots activism left behind a legacy of social justice, mentorship and collective action