Dadri lynching was pre-planned: NCM

The National Commission for Minorities (NCM) has said that the lynching of a Muslim man in Dadri in Uttar Pradesh was "not an accident" as claimed by many people but "pre-meditated planning".

A three-member team of the NCM, headed by its chairman Naseem Ahmad, had visited Bishada village near Dadri and interacted with family members of the victim, Mohammed Akhlaq, his neighbours and the authorities concerned.

"The team feels that a large crowd appearing within minutes of an announcement from temple's loudspeaker and at a time when most villagers claimed they were asleep seems to point to some pre-meditated planning.

"The facts as reported to the NCM team point strongly that the whole episode was the result of a plan in which a sacred place like temple was used for exhorting people of one community to attack a hapless family," the NCM report said.

The commission, without taking any politician's name, also dubbed as "disturbing" the comments by politicians after September 28 incident.

The statements were made by union minister Mahesh Sharma and some other BJP leaders after the lynching of Mohammed Akhlaq over rumours that he consumed cow-meat.

The NCM report states that people were incited by spreading a rumour that a cow had been killed but police responded instantly and did not allow the situation to escalate.

Family members of the deceased Akhlaq told the commission that there was no tension between them and other villagers before the incident.

"They claimed that the attack was sudden and vicious and that the men were particularly and brutally targeted. But women were also assaulted and injured. They were however all praise for the help provided by the administration," the report said.

The NCM chairman said providing security to Muslims families in the village at this time was paramount and "all efforts have to be made to expedite police investigation so that the guilty are brought to book quickly".

He also emphasised that all assistance to the victim's family has to be provided be it legal, material or emotional.

Fifty-year-old Akhlaq was beaten to death and his 22-year-old son Danish was critically injured by a 200-strong mob on September 28 following rumours that the family had consumed and stored beef.

The incident sparked an outrage across the country.