2 accused in Dadri lynching case granted bail

The Allahabad High Court has granted bail to two persons named as accused in the Dadri lynching case of Noida, where a middle-aged man was beaten to death by a mob more than a year ago on suspicion of cow slaughter.
A single judge bench of Justice Umesh Chandra Srivastava yesterday granted bail to Arun and Puneet, both of whom were lodged in a jail in Greater Noida in connection with the killing of Mohd Akhlaq, a resident of Bisada village in Dadri tehsil of Gautam Buddh Nagar district, in 2015.
A mob had gathered outside Akhlaq's house on the night of September 28 after it was announced over the loudspeaker of a temple in the village that he had stolen a calf and consumed its meat.

The mob thereafter barged into the house, beating Akhlaq to death and leaving his son Danish severely injured.
A case was registered against more than a dozen persons, including the son of a local BJP leader, in connection with the attack.
Akhlaq's family had claimed that the meat recovered from their refrigerator was "mutton", denying the charge that they had consumed beef on the occasion of Id-ul-Azha festival, in violation of the ban on cow slaughter in UP.
However, the report of tests conducted at a forensic lab in course of hearing in the case relating to Akhlaq's killing held that the meat was of "cow progeny".

Subsequently, upon orders of a Greater Noida court, an FIR was lodged last year against Akhlaq and his family members for violation of the UP Cow Slaughter Act.