Congress demands justice for Iqlakh

With political slugfest continuing in the country over the death of 50-year-old Mohammed Iqlakh in Uttar Pradesh's Dadri, Congress leader Manish Tewari on Wednesday questioned, whether the lynching of a serving air warrior's father over rumours of eating beef will ever get justice.

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"The fundamental question is that Sartaz, a proud member of Indian armed forces is asking for justice. He wants justice for his father Iqlakh, who was brutally lynched. His(Sartaz) brother, who wanted to join the armed forces is still struggling for his life in a hospital. Today, India stands in the dock, will it give justice to its armed forces. It is India, which is under trial and people need to realize the implications of what is happening in Dadri," Tewari told ANI here.

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Asserting Mahatma Gandhi's stand on the issue of banning beef, Tewari said: "The fundamental reality is that are we going to become a nation of bans? Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation, probably the greatest worshipper of cow, on 25th of July 1947, while addressing a prayer meeting had said that he is against all these bans. The fact is, if something needs to be done, then it has to be done by a consensus and not forced on the people."

A mob of around 200 persons attacked Iqlakh on September 28 and he was brutally killed after rumours spread in the village that a cow has been slaughtered and beef was stored in his house.