The Allahabad High Court on Monday granted bail to Vishal Rana, a key accused in the lynching case of Mohammad Akhlaq in Dadri.
Residents of Bishahra village in Dadri, 45 kilometers from the national Capital, lynched Mohammad Akhlaqu, a fellow villager and brutally assaulted his younger son Danish, over rumours of them having eaten beef in September 2015.
According to the chargesheet of Akhlaq's murder case, Vishal Rana, son of a local BJP leader Sanjay Rana, spread the rumour of Akhlaq having eaten beef after which a village mob lynched the Muslim man. Rana was charged with 302, 307, 147, 148, 149, 323, 504, 506427, 458 of the IPC and Section 7 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act.
While giving bail to Rana, Justice Pratyush Kumar in his order said, “It is submitted that co-accused Saurav, Shivam, Gaurav, Puneet and Arun having similar role to that of the applicant have already been granted bail by this court. Therefore the applicant is also entitled to be released on the bail on the ground of parity. Without commenting on the merits of the case, I find it a fit case for bail”
J.B. Singh, one of the lawyers of Rana told The Hindu , “Honorable High Court granted bail to Vishal on the grounds of parity of other accused. The court did not go into the merits of the case”.
Syed Farman Ahmad Naqvi, the lawyer of Akhlaq, however, told The Hindu that they will consider challenging the bail of all the accused who were named in the FIR, in the higher court.
Despite Akhlaq's murder case is under trial in a fast track court in Greater Noida, the charges are yet to be framed against the accused 22 months after he was lynched.
With Rana's bail, only three of the total 19 accused Sri Om, Rupendra and Vivek, will be in jail in the lynching case that led to a national debate on intolerance. One accused, Ravin Sisodia, died in jail due to apparent case of Chikangunya fever.
