Eight months after a mob beat to death a Muslim man rumored to have slaughtered a cow and eaten its meat, a new analysis has found that the meat of a “cow or its progeny” was retrieved from the victim’s home.
The forensic report, leaked to the Indian news media on Tuesday, directly contradicts a previous analysis released five months ago by a local veterinary hospital, which determined that meat seized at the home of the victim, Muhammad Ikhlaq, was that of a goat.
A police official said on Wednesday that the nature of the meat had no bearing on the prosecution of those implicated in Mr. Ikhlaq’s killing.
“All accused are booked for murder, and it does not matter to us whether the meat is of a goat or of a cow,” said Abhishek Yadav, the police superintendent in rural Noida, where the crime occurred. “A murder is a murder.”
However, a lawmaker with the governing Bharatiya Janata Party said on Wednesday that, on the basis of the new report, Mr. Ikhlaq’s family should be prosecuted for possessing cow’s meat, and that “whatever help they got from the government, that help, those facilities, must immediately be taken back.”
The lawmaker, Yogi Adityanath, who represents a constituency in the state of Uttar Pradesh, also said the 19 men being held on suspicion of killing Mr. Ikhlaq should be released. “Since they are all innocent young men, they must be released from there,” he said.
He added that the Uttar Pradesh state government, “the opposition and the media, who gave a bad name to this country, and hatched a conspiracy to defame this country, they must ask for forgiveness from their countrymen.”
Mr. Ikhlaq, 52, was killed when dozens of residents stormed his house after a public announcement over the loudspeaker of a Hindu temple that he had killed and eaten parts of a cow. The cow is a holy symbol for Hindus and its slaughter is banned in much of India.
The Dadri lynching, as it came to be called, stirred passionate public debate over religious tolerance.
The second report was put together by a government forensic laboratory and dated Oct. 3, 2015. A copy was made available by Mr. Ikhlaq’s lawyer.
Mr. Ikhlaq’s son, Danish Khan, who was injured in the attack last year, dismissed the report as unreliable. “Earlier, a report came out saying it was mutton — so, was that false?” Mr. Khan said. “Instead of my father’s death, they are now diverting attention toward the meat.”
The chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav, who is not related to the police superintendent, also cast doubt on the new analysis. “Where was the sample sent, who received it?” he asked. “There was nothing objectionable in his house. Every eye is on this matter. Everyone wants that the victim’s family should get justice, as murder has taken place.”
Source: NYTimes
