Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday condemned the Dadri lynching, saying such incidents hurt the country’s image.
“India is a mature society. We need to rise above these kinds of incidents because they certainly don’t give a good name as far as the country is concerned,” he told reporters after a lecture at Columbia University.
“I have also said they can amount to policy diversions in that context so it is the responsibility of every Indian in his actions or comments to stay clear of unfortunate and condemnable instances like this,” the senior BJP leader added.
Our correspondent Vijaita Singh adds:
U.P. report doesn’t fix motive for Dadri killing
The Uttar Pradesh government has sent a detailed report to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) regarding the Dadri incident, where a 50-year-old man was lynched over rumours of consuming beef.
According to the report, accessed by The Hindu, the U.P. government has refrained from mentioning any reason for the murder of Mohammad Akhlaq. Without mentioning the word “beef or cow slaughter,” the State government has said that there were allegations that the deceased was killed for consuming “pratibandhit pashu ka maans” (meat of an animal, whose slaughter is banned).
The government said in its report it was still investigating and had not reached any conclusion yet.
