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A Surajpur court on Tuesday, 23 December has rejected the Uttar Pradesh government's application to drop all the charges against the accused in the 2015 lynching of Mohammad Akhlaq.
"The application was on 'baseless' and 'unfounded' claims, the court observed," Advocate Yusuf Saifi told The Quint.
Surajpur Court has observed that the application by the UP government was not on sufficient grounds, one main eyewitness (Shaista, Akhlaq's sister) has also testified and the case at the evidence stage of the trial. Hence, the court cannot accept an application to drop the charges against the accused.Advocate Yusuf Saifi to The Quint
In October this year, the UP government had submitted an application, invoking Section 321 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) to demand dropping the charges against the accused in Dadri lynching case, a decade after the heinous crime took place.
In its application the government had used arguments such as: "inconsistent statements by family," no possession of firearm/sharp weapon" and "to restore social harmony."
On Tuesday, Additional District Judge Saurabh Dwivedi rejected their application and also directed that the case be heard on a regular basis and to speed up the process of recording all the evidence in this case.
"It is a big deal that in a case pertaining to mob lynching, an application like this was rejected at this stage. Such an order, a rejection by the Court is a huge deal and a big win for us," Advocate Yusuf Saifi told The Quint.
On the night of 28 September 2015, fifty-two-year-old Akhlaq and his son Danish were dragged out of their home in Bisada, Dadri. A mob attacked them following an announcement at a temple that the family had consumed beef. Danish survived, but Akhlaq did not.
The case is currently at the evidence stage and the next hearing in the case is on 6 January 2026.