The residents of Dadri, whose complaint led to a case of cow slaughter against the family and brother of Mohammad Akhlaq, will appeal against the stay on their arrest by the Allahabad High Court. The court had on Friday granted immunity from arrest to Akhlaq’s family in the alleged cow slaughter case “till the conclusion of the investigation in the case”.
Akhlaq was lynched by his neighbours in Bishahra village in Dadri last September over rumours of having eaten beef.
Surajpal, the main complainant in the cow slaughter case, told The Hindu that he would approach the apex court against the High Court’s relief to Akhlaq’s family. He said, “I completely respect the honourable court’s order but it would be unfair that while innocents have been put behind the bar in the Akhlaq lynching case, the main culprit in the cow slaughter case, which is reflected in public anger, remain free.”
“The petitioner shall not be arrested till the conclusion of investigation under the Code of Criminal Procedure,” the Bench of Justices Ramesh Sinha and Prabhat Chandra Tripathi had said.