It’s been a year since a group of people stormed into his house, assaulted Mohammed Akhlaq and his son on suspicion of having killed a cow for its meat.
But a year later, the trial against the 18 accused in the case is proceeding slowly forward and the court is still to frame charges against them.
So what has happened so far?
- 18 persons have been booked for murder
- The chargesheet in the case was filed in December 2015, but it was only in April 2016 that it was sent to a fast track court
- The court has had 18 hearings. There were proceedings in five of them.
- There were 8 adjournments due to pleas from defence lawyers, two hearings in which additional documents were sought and two days on which the judge was on leave, reports the Indian Express.
- A major factor for the delay was the fact that the defence had moved an application seeking an FIR against Akhlaq’s family for allegedly slaughtering a cow, says the Economic Times.
- Three of the suspects were found to be minors and are out on bail, the report says.