Headlines
Justice will be done, CM tells Akhlaq's family
Lucknow, Oct 4
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister
Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday met the family of Mohammed Akhlaq, who was
lynched by a mob, and said the government will do everything to bring
the guilty to book.
Akhlaq, the father of an Indian Air Force
(IAF) personnel, was dragged out of his house and killed in a Greater
Noida village after rumours that he had consumed beef.
He promised the distraught family all support from his government.
Yadav told the media later that he shared the grief of the bereaved family and would do everything to bring the guilty to book.
"Though
we cannot bring back what has been snatched from the family, I assured
them that in this hour of grief and even in future the government will
stand by their side," he said.
He added that the government would give the family a house.
Asked
if a job would be given to a family member of the victim, the chief
minister said if there was a request, it would be considered.
He
also said that it was sad that after the gruesome incident last week in
Bisahada village of Dadri, politics was now at play.
"Pata
nahin kisne ye zehar ghola hai (I do not know who has mixed this
poison)" the chief minister said, referring to rumours of beef eating by
the dead man that led to his killing.
The government had
announced an ex-gratia of Rs.10 lakh to the family of Akhlaq initially.
This amount was enhanced to Rs.20 lakh late Saturday.
Also
present in the meeting between the chief minister and the Akhlaq family
was Uttar Pradesh Minority Welfare minister Mohd Azam Khan.
Afzal, elder brother of the deceased, told the media that the family wanted justice.
"We
have come to the government so that we get justice," he said even as
his mother sobbed and the daughter and son-in-law of Akhlaq watched on.
The family is likely to meet Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav also.