New Delhi: The Gautam Buddha Nagar district court Tuesday rejected the Uttar Pradesh government’s application to withdraw the case against all accused in the 2015 mob lynching of Mohammed Akhlaq, saying discrepancies in the number of accused named by witnesses during the probe were ‘immaterial’. It also said that witnesses’ statements do not in any way suggest that the evidence was insufficient to conduct the trial.
Additional Sessions Judge Saurabh Dwivedi described the government’s plea, which alleged contradictions in statements by the witnesses—victim’s family members who come from the same village as the accused—as “devoid of any merit”. He called the matter, wherein a case was framed in February 2021 after a chargesheet was filed in December 2015, “very important” and directed that the trial proceed expeditiously.
“The application filed by the prosecution is without merit. Therefore, for this reason, this court finds the application worthy of dismissal,” Judge Dwivedi said in the order passed Tuesday.
The judge also said that while the prosecution relied on statements recorded under CrPC Section 161 in its plea to withdraw the case—filed under CrPC section 321—those statements had already been considered when the chargesheet was filed and charges were framed. They did not show the witnesses’ evidence was tainted or that the case had collapsed. Instead, the material supported the prosecution, he observed.
Counsels for Akhlaq’s family, including advocate Yusuf Saif, told the court that the government’s plea offered no legal basis for withdrawing charges after they had been framed. The court noted that the chargesheet was filed after key witnesses recorded their statements under CrPC Section 161, which allows investigating officers to record statements of persons acquainted with the facts to assist the probe.
Mohammed Akhlaq, an ironsmith from Bisara village near Dadri, was beaten to death by a mob at about 10.30 pm on 28 September 2015.
One of his sons, Danish, was also assaulted after the mob accused the family of storing beef. On the basis of a complaint by Akhlaq’s daughter Sahista, the Uttar Pradesh Police arrested 10 persons from the same village, including Vishal Rana, Puneet and Rupender.
In December 2015, the police filed a chargesheet against 18 people, including two juveniles; charges were later framed against the 16 adults, while the two juveniles were sent to the Juvenile Justice Board.
In its application, the prosecution said Akhlaq’s wife had named 10 accused, his daughter Sahista named six others, and his son Danish named three additional persons beyond the 16 accused.
After dismissing the government’s plea, the court listed January 2026 for recording the statements of the remaining prosecution witnesses.
(Edited by Shashank Kishan)
Right decision. Why should anyone be allowed to go unpunished for a crime ?
It doesn’t matter if you are on the right or left but you should not let crime go away unpunished. Left will be silent when Hindus die but the right should stand for justice irrespective of their faith.